Dy Collector told to probe into contamination of Comba wells
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, FEB 23
District Collector, South G P Naik on Wednesday directed Deputy Collector, Margao Johnson Fernandes to conduct a detailed probe into the contamination of drinking wells in the Comba locality of the city before initiating action against the polluters.
The directions came after Margao Municipal Chairperson Sushila Naik called on the District Collector seeking early action in the matter after the Goa Pollution Control Board confirmed of pollution of the wells by oily substance such as grease and oil.
The District Collector told Herald that the wells in questions, besides the water nullah passing through the locality will be desilted first in a bid to ascertain the source of pollution. “The district administration had conducted a similar exercise in Velsao and Chicalim which had helped to ascertain the source of pollution”, he said, adding that action would be initiated against the perpetrators after completion of this exercise.
While the authorities are bracing up to conduct a probe into the mysterious seepage of the oily substance in the drinking wells, petrol pumps located on the higher side of the city and a servicing stations are likely to come under the scanner of the inquiry officer.
Residents of Comba had earlier this month spotted oily substance in the drinking water wells and their worst fears have now been confirmed by the report of the Goa State Pollution Control Board.
The MMC Chairperson informed that the Comba locality had experienced contamination of some drinking water wells more than a decade and half. “The petrol pumps have underground storage tanks. Whether the oily substance have come from the tanks due to seepage or due to discharge of effluents from servicing centres needs to be probed”, she added.
Says the district collector: “We will leave nothing to chance. All possible angles will be probed into by the inquiry officer”.
