MARGAO
The recent heavy pre-monsoon showers have brought to light serious lapses in Goa’s monsoon preparedness, as key infrastructure and response mechanisms struggled to cope with the sudden deluge. From inundated roads and collapsed buildings to overwhelmed fire services, the early rains have already wrought havoc across the State.
On May 21, as downpours lashed several parts of Goa, including the commercial capital Margao, the Water Resources Department (WRD) began its annual ritual of cleaning stormwater nullahs in Fatorda. However, this action appeared delayed, as flash floods soon followed, attributed largely to clogged drains and incomplete desilting work.
Two days later, on May 23, a slab from an old building in Margao’s New Market area collapsed, prompting an urgent response from various disaster management agencies. Officials on site were reportedly left scrambling to identify a contractor who could supply critical equipment, including concrete breakers, gas cutters and a JCB, to safely dismantle the precariously hanging debris.
Amid the unfolding crisis, the State government issued an order asking municipal bodies to deploy additional workers to assist the Fire and Emergency Services starting June 1 — a move seen by many as coming too late.
Climate change is attributed to the changing weather and climatic conditions across the globe, and India and Goa are no exceptions, throwing up the often-asked question: why aren’t the authorities making changes to the monsoon preparedness timetable in line with the changing weather pattern?
Well, if the roads were inundated and submerged in flash floods over the last few days, attribute it to the choked drains and nullahs across towns and villages. That the Chairperson of the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority, District Collector Egna Cleetus, invoked Section 33 of the Disaster Management Act to issue directions to the Public Works Department and Water Resources Department to complete de-silting work in Margao and Fatorda only goes to show the annual exercise of de-silting drains and stormwater channels either failed to take off or remains incomplete to date.
Another case in point is the tree-cutting exercise as part of monsoon preparedness. Some of the agencies are yet to kick-start the process of cutting the old and dangerous trees and branches to date, raising a question or two about whether the Disaster Management Authorities should initiate preparations well in advance and not wait for the end of May or the first week of June to start the monsoon preparedness.
Take the case of Fire Services. As the pre-monsoon showers wrought havoc, bringing down dozens of trees on the roads and houses and inundating residential areas, the firemen turned out to be the first responders to deal with the situation with available equipment and manpower. As per the government order, the fire brigade will get extra workers from the municipalities only from May 24. Sources said that firemen were left exhausted after attending to continuous calls over the last three days. With emergency calls mounting, including the collapse of slabs of Margao buildings, firemen were left helpless when the job of removing heavy trees required expert service.
A senior official admitted in private that the annual exercise of implementing monsoon preparedness by the end of May or the first week of June has exposed the system. “When the weather conditions are changing due to climate change, the administration needs to also change by setting timelines for completion of monsoon preparedness,” remarked a senior official.
