MARGAO
Hazard a guess over the fate of the action proposed by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) against the hotels and establishments discharging sewage and wastewater into the storm water drains in the commercial capital.
Well, after the GSPCB officials sealed three establishments, including a hotel and a bar for releasing wastewater into the drains, nothing has been heard from the Pollution Control Board over the action against the remaining establishments.
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the PIL filed by Navelim resident Prof Antonio Alvares in respect of the Salpem lake pollution, Navelim is expected to come up for hearing in the High Court.
The petition filed in 2022 was scheduled to be disposed of by the High Court with directions to the authorities in December last, but the petitioner drew the attention of the court that the flow of sewage is unabated even after some sewerage connections were given to the slum areas.
Alvares has said that the monsoons have arrived and Margao drainage system will receive its annual servicing and the Salpem Lake and the river will be flooded with garbage and trash. “Whether the sewage stops from entering the fields will be known only in the month of November,” he said.
Saying the STP plant is meant to be connected to the sewerage network and not to gutters which are meant to carry storm waters, Alvares, however, said the STP plant takes the sewage from the drains only after the moonsons by having a diversion facility near Kudchadkar Nursing Home. “It is quite understandable that the STP cannot take the rainwater as well during the monsoons as it will be simply beyond its capacity. So during the rains, all the filth is openly released in the fields and river,” he said.
Saying there are huge drainage canals in Margao, for instance at the SGPDA market which is full of stench and never flows off during the year, Alvares said it is only when the monsoon starts that these drains can force the choked rubbish. “The MMC does nothing to decongest these drains. One reason could be because the drains carry all filth of the fish Market and not storm water. In my opinion, markets must have their own treatment plant. The fields around the fish market are also polluted and are uncultivable. Finally, these fields will be acquired by the Collector by virtue of the fact that the fields are lying fallow,” he added.
Alvares, who is also the president of the Salpem Tolem Farmers Association said that the MMC and other Government authorities are not serious about the issue. “Thirty years is too long to tolerate and even after the High Court’s directions, the sewage continues to flow, we have already decided to put truck loads of rubble, concrete and cement and block the flow. We have the right to protect our cultivable fields. If the MMC does not stop thinking that Navelim fields is Margao Sewage Chamber, then we will be left with no other option,” he asserted.
