VRISHANK MAHATME
With the increasing number of constructions, the residents, mainly of St Inez as well as other surrounding areas of Caranzalem and Taleigao have complained that they get limited water supply. They cited weak pressure as the major problem for ground plus five storey buildings.
When Herald spoke to the local residents of St Inez and Caranzalem it was revealed they are suffering from water shortage issues in spite of investing heavily on purchasing flats, that don’t have proper drinking water and no proper drainage system.
Pramay Mainkar, who is the Corporator of Ward No XVI in St Inez, stated the new or recently built societies are the ones that are facing a massive water shortage issue, because of the width and size of pipelines used for the water supply.
The locals also complained that the main reason behind the restricted water supply is the rampant NOCs given to new constructions and occupancies, which in turn leads to diversion of water to these new buildings.
“Adarsh colony is one of the oldest societies in Tiswadi taluka, but recently, we are facing water shortage issues, as our colony residents get only one hour of PWD water supply, which is purely not sufficient,” said Arvind Wagh.
“We cannot expect 24×7 supply of water with such unplanned real estate in Caranzalem. In fact I have already taken up the issue with the concerned department and also had requested to pass a resolution to stop giving any further permission, NOC and occupancy certificate to any new projects, until the PWD is in a position to supply sufficient amount of water to present residents,” said Kishore Shastry, Corporator of Ward-IV.
Another resident Shobha Sardesai had this to say. “As we get only one hour of PWD water supply, we are forced to call upon private tankers, at least one tanker per day, which approximately costs our society Rs 20,000 per month.”
“We are in process of commissioning a new 24×7 water supply plant at Opa, which is under construction. Almost 70% of the work has been completed and this new plant is expected to deliver 27 MLD of water to Panjim and surrounding areas,” said Dileep Dhavalikar, Executive Engineer (PHE) Div 3.
Further mentioning that the PWD has no control over the massive new constructions coming up as the Town and country Planning (TCP) and Municipality or the village panchayat approve the Occupancy and NOC certificate and then it is later sent to the PWD for water availability in that particular area.
Dhavalikar said the main reason for weak supply of water is the growing number of water connections in these areas, which have currently doubled in the last 10 years. “Currently we supply 24 MLD water daily for 17,000 consumers,” he added.
He also mentioned that the PWD is supplying 135 litres per person on a daily basis as per the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) norms.
According to the survey conducted by PWD in the year 2006, it revealed that there has been an increase from 19 MLD to 24 MLD, as the number of consumers and water connections doubled.
Once the new plant at Opa is commissioned, the PWD will be in a better position to provide 24×7 water supply within the CCP jurisdiction which includes Panjim, St Inez and Caranzalem.
Dhavalikar further mentioned that recently cracks had developed in a drinking water pipeline at Banastarim, leading to the major breakdown in water supply.
Clearly, this is hardly an advertisement for a city which professes to be on the SMART road to join other cities of India on the high table of civic delivery.
