13 May 2023  |   05:52am IST

Residents of Hawaii beach cry over water scarcity

The Taleigao panchayat gram sabha had passed a resolution demanding no new project be approved till the water problem is solved in the village, but the government is according priority to projects and villagers are made to suffer
Residents of Hawaii beach cry over water scarcity

Team Herald


PANJIM: The residents of Hawaii beach, Dona Paula, on Friday complained that they have been facing water scarcity for more than 10 years but the last two weeks have been even worse for them. 

The residents stated that wells are not cleaned for years making it difficult for them. The issue was highlighted during the Taleigao gram sabha on April 30, by a villager, who said that there was water shortage in their village, some people are not getting water supply and some areas are receiving water at low pressure and that too only for 20 minutes and there was no particular timing too. 

The residents said that the gram sabha had passed a resolution demanding that no new project be approved till the water problem is solved in the village. But the government is according priority to projects and villagers are made to suffer, they lamented.

Social worker Cecille Rodrigues said that on Thursday she called up the PWD Minister’s office and informed him about the water shortage faced by the Hawaii beach residents. 

Accordingly, a technical assistant visited the area on Friday to discuss the problem with the villagers, who demanded that the water supply pipeline be checked on urgent basis. After much hesitation, the PWD sent a contractor to check the problem to which it was found that the water supply pipelines which was earlier connected straight to the village now had two pipelines. 

The villagers alleged that the main pipeline was connected to the hotel which had to get filled first and later another ‘L’ shaped pipeline which receives water connected to the village but with low pressure. 

They said that they have been residing at Hawaii beach for more than 100 years and alleged that somebody from the PWD had changed these pipes.

Rodrigues said, “If the water problem is not solved then we will fix an appointment with PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral and we will all meet him.”

IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar