A sense of panic has triggered a mass temporary exodus from the Prabhu Vi oletta residential complex at Alto Dabolim, as the total number of diarrhoea cases reached 160 on Sunday. Cit ing severe water contami nation and a rising threat of typhoid, many families have vacated their flats for rented accommodation or relatives’ homes, describing the colony as “entirely unsafe.” Teams from the Cortal im Primary Health Centre (PHC) continued to monitor the situation closely even as two suspected typhoid cases were detected on Sat urday. Residents said that fami lies vacating their flats and shifting to rented accommo dations or relatives’ homes is one reason for the decline in diarrhoea cases in the com plex. Meanwhile, under pres sure, the builder has started transporting sewage through night soil tankers to the PWD sewerage facilities as per the directions from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
“After intense pressure and action from authorities, the builder has finally started sending sewage through tankers to PWD sewage treatment plants as directed. This should have been done much earlier,” the residents charged. Despite these steps, residents expressed disappoint ment over what they described as a lack of support from elected representatives during the crisis. “Except for the sarpanch, no elected representative vis ited the complex to understand our problems. We have not seen any politicians including MLAs, Ministers and MPs visiting the site,” they rued. Residents have urged the Vasco Police to take action against the builder pointing out that police officials had visited the site more than once and even saw the alleged sewage discharge
