Team Herald
PONDA: Water supply to Tiswadi and Ponda talukas will be restricted for at least four days due to a landslide of the earth embankment on Curti-Khandepar national highway widening work on Thursday, which caused a breakdown of major 900 mm dia DI and 750 mm dia CI pipelines.
The water supply to Panjim, Ribandar, Tonca, Miramar, Altinho, Mala, Cumbarjua, Banastarim and Marcel would be restricted. The PWD officials have appealed to the public to bear with the inconvenience caused due to the breakdown.
The incident took place on Thursday at 5.30 am when the embankment collapsed along with the side retaining wall and pipelines’ concrete block support. The impact was such that both the pipelines got buried five to six metres deep into the field. The major landslide and breakdown of pipelines has caused a huge gap and officials say it would take some days to restore the same.
PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar, who inspected the site, said, “Due to a major landslide it will take at least four days to restore the water supply to Tiswadi taluka and till then the affected areas will be supplied with water through tankers.”
Ponda MLA Ravi Naik, who also visited the site, blamed the authorities for the alleged substandard work of NH as the roadside of four-lane collapsed, which would badly affect water supply to Tiswadi and parts of Ponda taluka for next few days.
PWD Executive Engineer Nivruthi Parsekar said, “We have commenced the restoration work. There is need to construct a concrete retaining wall and some fabrication work is also required for urgent repair and restoration of both pipelines.
Meanwhile, Assistant Engineer at Panjim Div III, Prashant Gaude, said, “We have made all arrangements to supply water through tankers to Tiswadi taluka. The tankers will be filled at Porvorim point and water will be supplied to the needy. The Porvorim filling point receives water from the Assonora plant. There are seven tankers and five more have been called to meet the people’s requirements. If need be, we will hire more private tankers.”
When asked how many tankers would be needed, he said, “Since people have stored water for the day, there was normal demand for tankers on Thursday. But from Friday morning onwards when the stored water gets exhausted, we would get to know from the locals as to how much quantity is required. We are ready to meet the water requirements of people.”
Meanwhile, the work to repair both pipelines commenced at the site. However, heavy downpour created hurdles in the restoration work.
Earthmovers and trucks were engaged in filling the damaged embankment to lay pipelines. With Panjim being the State’s capital, it is learnt that the authorities are under pressure as officials including EE, AE, JE of Roads and Water Divisions were seen camping at the site.
The locals blame the NH authorities for the incident by not providing proper drainage and gutters to ensure the flow of water from the hills.
Rocky Dias, Sandeep Parkar and many locals informed the PWD Minister that this is a hilly area.
The locals claimed that the four lane widening work was recently carried by cutting the hill and filling the low lying area. However, the authorities had not taken care to drain the water flowing from the hills onto the road. As a result this water got leaked into earth embankment due to which foundation of the protecting roadside wall collapsed causing a breakdown of the pipelines.
