It’s a story of
projects and consultants, reports and promises, of accusations and counter accusations. The bottom
line after decades is this- the people of Panjim are living with an eyesore,
when the St Inez creek could have been Panjim’s most beautiful asset.
But all is not lost. Some people centric efforts like the one in
Camraabhat shows that if many of us are to treat even a portion of it, a
miraculous people led change can happen.
The Creek deserves
respect
According
to Vishal Rawlley, a planner, artist and activist who undertook a project of
the St Inez creek states that it is because of lack of political will. “Our
politicians are more interested in catering to the builders and developers
rampantly intruding every corner of land along the creek and also into it.
Vishal feels that the politicians are interested in creating vote banks of the
slums along the creek. “If any politician is serious about the St. Inez Creek,
first let them change its designation from a ‘nalla’, or drain, to a tidal
water body – a creek or estuary – and let the area around the creek be declared
a Coastal Regulation Zone and no encroachment be allowed alongside it,” he
says. Patricia Pinto an Ex CCP corporator agrees, “Government-run sewage
treatment plants or pumping stations should not at any cost enter the creek.
The Authorities may deny it, but I am sure that sewage and sullage has been
entering the creekeither through overflow from the sewage chambers or backflow
from the sewage lines .
The Shocking truth
Campal resident
Armando Gonsalves, whose NGO has campaigned for a clean creek for long says
that he has observed that every morning at around 3 am, huge overloaded trucks
coming from around the North hotel belts dump sewage in the creek because
sometimes they do not have anywhere else to dump the overloaded waste. The
government is aware about it and nothing is being done yet
Changing the
mindset; what can we do?
Says Gonsalves, Have
you ever seen Amsterdam, the whole blissful view of people rowing on the boats,
lovers sitting by the belts, the gushing water under the bridge? Well,
co-incidentally while visiting Amersfoort, Armando got an enchanting view of
the creek and imagined our St Inez too, being the same. That’s when all the
work began. He believed that a change will only take place when the perception
is changed.
The
name ‘St Inez Creek’ brings about a whole negative ideology and pushes people
to dirty the creek more giving it a blind eye. Hence, Armando Gonsalves decided
to call it the ’Campal Creek’; and why not? Campal is beautiful, when one
thinks of Campal, the children’s park comes to mind, the lovely trees and
greenery, the gardens and grounds, the theater, Kala academy and so much more.
This changes the entire view of what people think about the creek. The second
step was indulging in activities; he had people going down boating and kayaking
under the bridge near Inox. “We had to do it, despite the dirty foul smell we
had to initiate this so that at least people’s mindset would change into
realizing that if it’s cleaned a lot can happen,” says Armando.
What’s up with Smart City plan?
During
the smart city public consultation process the revitalization of the creek was
the number one agenda of the people, but it was ignored. However, later the
process of inviting foreign consultants started again. The last consultants
Vishal met were CDIA (Cities Development Initiative Asia) funded by the Asia
Development Bank who have done some good work in restoring water bodies in growing
cities. “They wanted a community led approach and were very happy with some of
the solutions we presented to them. However nothing came of it. Perhaps they
were not given the go ahead.Their tenure ended, they left, it was a waste of
everyone’s time and effort and a drain of our tax money,” says Vishal
VOICES OF THE LOCALS
• Professor Antonio Peregrino da Costa the Hon. Local
Representative of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of music living in
Campal-Panjim describes how he witnessed the St Inez creek in his young days.
“I remember we used sit by the creek here itself next my house and fish every
evening. It’s sad that we lost the treasured scenic beauty amidst the garbage
and sewage. A quick action is required”
• Thysca Lobo, editor living in Campal says, “I remember doing a
college research and project for a video on the nullah cleaning issue. I wonder
what it would be like when it’s clean, so many activities could take place.
Unfortunately, we do not posses such opportunity due to no actions being taken”
• Rajaram Kundaikar, a Bank Employee living in Panjim suggests
that the St Inez creek could be beatified just like in other places in India.
“It will create a buzz as a hot tourist spot.”
• Archie Fernandes, Media Person, “I used to live in the hostel
in Panjim, and honestly every time I passed by the creek it stinks. It’s time
they clean it, every time only during elections they start coming with the
ideas and then it is not even continued.”
•
Sarvesh Naik, an entrepreneur in Panjim says that the people in Panjim have
been deceived with fake promises every year. “It’s terrible, when you are
deceived”
