MARGAO: Thousands of litres of drinking water went into the drain at Tembi-Camurlim following the breakdown in the main water pipeline on the Arlem-Borim road on Monday, damaging half the portion of the road and raising fears of water shortage in the villages of Loutolim, Raia and Camurlim.
The PWD is believed to have learnt about the pipeline bursting only at around 9 am though the incident is believed to have taken place at around 1 am. The incident inundated the low lying area in front of a residential house owned by Santana Vaz before the PWD labourers moved in to divert the water flow. Till late in the evening, the pipeline was not restored and the PWD workers were attending to the repair work.
PWD senior engineer, V Naik informed Herald that the process of repairing the damaged pipeline is underway and exuded confidence to complete the work later in the night. “We are working on a war footing to repair the damaged line. Work will continue in the night to ensure that the pipeline is restored,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said that the pipeline was supplying water to the villages of Loutolim, Raia and Camurlim, while not ruling out the possibility of these villages witnessing water shortage due to be pipeline breakdown.
Camurlim resident Jesus Ramos told Herald that the incident created a huge crater at the pipeline breakdown site. He demanded that the PWD move in to repair the pipeline on a war footing as well as repair the damaged road.
Santana Vaz told Herald that the pipeline burst with a loud sound at around 1 am and the water flooded the entire area in front of her house by morning. “It was only late morning that the labourers diverted the water to the low lying area,” she said.
