Disastrous management
No matter how dire the disaster and how pious the promises that it will not be allowed to happen again, it seems the Goa government just cannot get its act together when it comes to protecting its citizens from the vagaries of nature. No lessons have been learnt from the calamitous Canacona deluge last year. Not only that, so-called flood control measures at Sanquelim, at an unbelievable cost of Rs22 crore, have proved to be completely ineffective.
The Meteorological Department, which nearly always gets its forecasts wrong, was right on the spot this time, when it said that heavy rains were likely to continue for around six days. The Sanquelim Market is one of the most vulnerable places for flooding, owing to the nearby Valvanti River. So, it was known that there was going to be heavy rain, and the vulnerability of the site was no secret.
Still, when the skies opened up on Tuesday night, where was Goa’s famed Disaster Management machinery? Was it sleeping snug, safe and sound in the dry indoors, while the traders of the Sanquelim market ran from pillar to post in pouring rain to try and save their merchandise from the rampaging waters?
Instead of helping people, officialdom seems to have gone out of its way to cause them losses. Irrigation Department officials opened the two closed gates of the Anjunem Dam when the water touched the danger mark, but apparently failed to give adequate warning to the people of Sanquelim. Not surprisingly, most shops in Sanquelim market were flooded by the wee hours of Wednesday. The flood water destroyed clothes, grains, groceries and other goods in the shops, even as the traders scrambled to retrieve their belongings. A few managed to salvage some of their possessions, but most could not do so.
The Sanquelim market area is at high risk from floods, not only because of the nearby river, but especially since the market has structures on all sides, making it difficult for water to flow away from the area. And, though an astronomical sum of Rs22 crore has been spent on alleged flood control measures including a retaining wall, no drainage system seems to have been created. Instead, a pump house been installed.
Never mind the wisdom of such quixotic measures that seem to have been designed to spend as much money as possible (to generate the highest possible kickbacks) rather than effectively tackle floods; but the pumps were not turned on when they were most needed. It was only later in the morning, well after the market was inundated and all the damage was done, that the authorities started up the pumps to remove the water from the market area.
The shopkeepers in Sanquelim say that they desperately tried to contact the Water Resources Department employees who were responsible for pumping the water out, but to no avail. North Goa Collector Mihir Vardhan has promised that an inquiry will be initiated into the non-working of the pumpset and action will be taken against those responsible for negligence. We hope that he is as good as his word.
Kerala capitulates
Now that an all-party meeting in Kerala has accepted that highways in the state will be 45 metres wide, can we hope that Goa too will fall in line? The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), whose norms require a 60-metre width for highways, has already given Goa and Kerala a 25 per cent special reduction.
The width cannot be reduced anymore, as vehicles don’t get any narrower regardless of the size of the state. Those who have a genuine grievance should ask for the highway to be re-routed in their areas.
