PACHU MENON
Sudden sprouting of ‘fountains’ in the middle of the roads; water ‘bubbling’ out and gradually forming small puddles along the way...... these are not nature’s wonders, but idiocies created by our irresponsible behavior which allows for colossal wastage of public resources to be overlooked without any remorse.
Tending to ignore, but not in the least ignorant about social responsibilities that govern civilized life, the public today prefer exhibiting that ‘rare’ quality of minding nothing but their own business as the rarest of virtues. But such traits are highly undesirable when it comes to shutting one’s eyes to the willful squandering of nature’s reserves.
We Indians are a confused lot. More often than not, bogged down by trivial matters, we end up doing things that could be categorized more for their futility and wastefulness. And unfortunately, Goans have been at their vivacious best emulating the trend.
To begin with, look at our concern for wasting what nature has bestowed us with in plentiful. The ‘Save Water’ campaign has caught the imagination of the nation and various groups have commenced initiating the movement to promote the wise use of water to overcome the scarcity that has become a natural phenomenon in vast regions of the country.
Saving water for future thus becomes an important watchword for the modern era that fails to understand the importance of conserving water. With the scourge of draughts at most times attributed to bad rains experienced by the country year after year, not much attention has been paid to the wastage of water that too is inadvertently causing a depletion of the planet’s reserve of water.
Although water is a prime natural resource, the crisis that threatens the sustainability of the available water resources is not that inconsequential as to be brushed aside so casually. Yet our insensitivity towards such a concerning issue is indeed baffling!
If water is so precious, why are we in the habit of turning a blind eye to the criminal waste of so priceless a commodity?
Over the years, it has been normal to have intermittent spells of ‘dry days’ in South Goa due to the bursting of the main pipeline which necessitates shutting of the main ‘artery’ for immediate repairs.Depending on the severity of the damage, the restoration works have sometimes caused taps to run dry for one or two days at a stretch. The ‘profitable’ run of water-tanker operators during these occasions has often invited wry comments about the water-supply department officials acting in cohorts with them to ‘enforce the shut down’.
Faced with a similar situation every day in the morning these past few days, one was however tempted to give credit to suggestions that this was a ‘joint venture operation’ where the PWD acted as an agent promoting the interests of private water suppliers in the area.
But quite strangely, this phenomenon was noticed only during the morning hours with the pressure gradually building up by the evening. Complaints to the PHE would elicit feeble responses that some maintenance work or the other was responsible for the drop in pressure.
But when it was brought to our notice that this crisis was not a generalized one, but localized to our area only, we called on the concerned authorities in the department to take stock of the situation.
At this juncture a special mention needs to be made of the Technical Assistant of the concerned Division who made it a point to visit the affected areas late in the night with his team to assess the problem. And were we shocked to hear about the root cause of the mess!
There were minor punctures on the pipeline supplying water to us brought about by the ‘illegal’ activities of ‘commercial’ establishments plying their trade all along the road. The small pools of water collected along the stretch were an indication of the senselessness of the people residing and conducting their business here. We have a tendency to blame the authorities for all the woes that befall us, and especially so when it comes to public utility services, be it power, phones or water.
For example, the sight of palm-leaves and branches of trees dangling precariously close or on to overhead electricity lines hardly bother people unless they have a disruption in supply and the departmental staff have to be summoned to engage in tree-cutting to restore power.
Officials in the water supply have always maintained that people show no inclination towards reporting leakage or burst pipelines. It is only when taps start making ‘airy sounds’ that the frantic calls to the department start.
Streetlights flickering or burning well into the day, electrical junction boxes carelessly left open, the stringing of Cable TV wires along electricity poles, perfectly asphalted surfaces ‘cleaved open’ to tap water connections from the mainline and the dug up debris thrown back to loosely cover it; such instances have failed to stir the sense of social commitment in us.
A lack of concern for public property is an inherent trait in us Indians, and Goans have not been any different! This possibly explains our flippant attitude towards misuse and damage of the state’s property. At least with various utility departments priding themselves in immediately attending to complaints, the state of Goa is better placed than others when it comes to public utility services.
We need to be a lot more vigilant towards such irregularities in our immediate neighbourhood and more importantly, show the alacrity to report the discrepancies to the concerned authorities.
Conservation cannot only be in thoughts; the means and ways of preserving Earth’s natural resources need to be implemented right away - for posterity!
