Peoples' power restored Colvacreek to its past glory after the entire creek was cleaned of its filth andmuck within a year’s time.
This was possible because a groupof villagers rallied together, armed with a court order, to put pressure onauthorities to get a job done.
It wasn’t easy. The villagers hadto battle the high and mighty in the political establishment besides thepowerful restaurateurs and hoteliers, who are well connected to politicos.
The struggle began in 2011 whenthe villagers led by the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum secretary, JudithAlmeida, filed a PIL in the High Court. The PIL informed the HC that contaminationof the creek was due to the sewage released into the creek by the hotels.
“In the past the Goa StatePollution Control Board took cognizance of sewage and garbage release by starredhotels, ignoring the discharge by smaller hotels and tea shops,” said GSPCBChairman Simon D’Souza. “Colva residents need a pat on their back. The PILforced us to look into the sewage release of all establishments around, even asthe villagers took up cudgels to save their ancestral creek,” D’Souza said. “GSPCB is just a body and cannot take creditfor the cleanliness of the creek,” he added.
The cleanliness work on the creekwas taken up during the code of conduct in March 2012 and was completed beforeelection results were out.
Acting on Almeida’s petition, theGoa Bench of High Court through a special order asked the water resourcesdepartment to take up the cleaning of the creek and to seal all sewagedischarge from houses and hotels along the banks of the creek.
The assistant engineer of WRD,Pradeep Naik, looked after the operations from February 26 onwards. The HC wasgiven a report that all the hotels had set up their own sewage treatment plant andthat no more waste was dumped in the creek.
Almeida hailed the WRD andsimilarly appreciated the villagers’ unity, which showed that work can be donewithout a politician’s help. “Governance can also be achieved when residents assertstheir rights in an attempt to preserve the air and water in their respectivevillages,” Almeida said.
"Almost 30 years back thecreek was garbage free and clean. Those were the days when people from Colva,Benaulim and Sernabatim drank water from the creek. Over the years thehoteliers had ruined the creek. Hopefully it will get back to its lost glorysince this cleaning initiative came through the villagers, Roasrio Pereira, aColva resident said.
