Team Herald

MARGAO: Congress MLA Clafasio Dias has threatened to stage a rasta roko, if the Water Resources Department does not replace the canal in Paroda with pipes, where the canal water overflows on the road causing hardship to motorists.

Besides, the MLA has also written to four sarpanchas in his constituency to convene an extraordinary gram sabha to discuss the proposed closure of Paroda canal.

He pointed out that the estimate for replacing the open canal near Paroda panchayat house with pipes has been prepared and is pending with the Superintending Engineer unnecessarily, instead of being sent to the Executive Engineer for approval.

As the road is slightly lower than the canal at that stretch, the vibrations caused by vehicles plying on the road results in the water spilling onto the road, disclosed Assistant Engineer Rajendra B. Incidentally, there have been a number of accidents at the site involving two-wheelers, but fortunately none very serious as yet.

Clafasio had proposed replacing the open canal for a stretch of around 300 metres with 1000 diameter pipe as has been done at some other places in Paroda village itself. The work has been estimated to cost around Rs 1.10 crore.

“I fail to understand why the estimates are not going to the higher authorities. The only reason I can think of is because the government does not have money to undertake the work and hence has asked the engineers to go slow on submitting proposals,” Clafasio said.

I will be forced to stage a rasta roko if the proposal to replace the open canal with pipes does not move forward, he said pointing that even TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, who had visited the site, has agreed with the proposal.

In the letter sent to the four panchayats that are serviced by the Paroda Canal, Clafasio requested the sarpanchas to convene an extraordinary gram sabha to discuss the repairs of the Paroda Canal. He pointed out that the engineers have proposed closing down the canal for a year to repair it.

“I am asking the panchayats to discuss this proposal with the villagers and particularly the farmers and let me know what should be done,” he said. 

The panchayats in question are Paroda, Chandor-Cavorim, Guirdolim and Macazana.

It may be recalled that the water supply from the Paroda Canal has been erratic this season due to various problems that can be attributed to the age of the canal that was constructed over 65 years ago.

The 17.62 kms long canal has around 350 hectares of area under its command area and has a 19 kms network of smaller canals to supply the water to the fields.