Team Herald
CALANGUTE: With some parts of Baga beach already stinking of sewage and sand, the Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) charged that it would be disastrous to go ahead with the contentious project without proper planning and application of mind.
“It is sitting on a time bomb and is just not right to go ahead with it without proper planning as it will be more of a curse to the village,” Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) president Premanand Divkar said on Thursday after attending a meeting called by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo to discuss some of the delayed infrastructure works in the coastal belt.
The meeting was also attended by Calangute panchayat members, communidade members, Biodiversity Management Committee and others.
During the discussion on the sewerage pipeline network and the sewerage treatment plant at Baga, Lobo said: “Some connections to the STP have been given in Khobrawaddo and Baga and the STP has started functioning. The treated sewage water should not be released into the Baga river as it will pollute the beaches where a lot of tourists come and bathe.”
Lobo said the treated sewage water from the Baga STP which is being released in the river here, could be used for gardening and in agricultural and farming activities in Calangute.
CCF members said the plan was to take the treated sewage water to the garbage treatment plant at Saligao through a proposed “reverse pipeline”, but this has not been done.
Pointing out many parts of the Baga and Calangute road were sinking due to the shoddy work carried out by the sewerage contractor, Divkar said, “We had objected to the reverse pipeline because it would affect the bio-diversity. The coastal residents of Calangute are sitting on a time-bomb, because it's a question of whether the pipeline will function or not,” he said, referring to the sinking. If it does not function properly, it is going to be the worst situation in the coastal belt,” Divkar said.
CCF and bio-diversity committee members said none of the existing trees should be chopped for the proposed widening of the road stretch from Calangute church to Nagoa circle. A new water pipeline in Calangute-Bagawas also discussed.