Treated sewage water safe for daily use?
Stating that people are not psychologically prepared to accept treated sewage water for daily use, it is learnt that PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said that treated sewage water will be discharged in the rivers till there’s a change in the public perception of treated sewage.
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Citizens have every right not to accept treated sewage water for daily use as clean water is a fundamental right. In India, the constitutional right to access to clean drinking water can be drawn from the right to food, the right to clean environment and the right to health, all of which have been protected under the broad heading of the ‘Right to Life’, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Treated sewage can be a major source of human-derived bacteria in the urban water environment, including potential pathogens that may survive the treatment process. There are three main stages of the sewage water treatment process, aptly known as primary, secondary and tertiary water treatment. In some applications, more advanced treatment is required, known as quaternary water treatment.
Furthermore, anaerobic bacteria are an important element in the wastewater treatment processes. They are responsible for methane fermentation of sewage sludge, facilitating decomposition of macromolecular organic matter into simpler compounds. Biological stages in wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove substances such as drugs, found in the wastewater of medical centres, or halogenated compounds and cyanides from industrial wastewater. What if there is a breakdown in the sewage water treatment plant?
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Captain’s delight
in Team India
Bowlers hold the key in the ongoing T20 World Cup because of the Australian conditions. Therefore, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a vital cog in the Indian scheme of things. His performance, thus far, has been excellent. In the game against Pakistan, Bhuvneshwar troubled leading batsman Mohammad Rizwan, and returned with a healthy average.
Then at the SCG, the Netherlands openers were clueless against the Indian pacer; three overs for nine runs and two scalps is a bowler’s dream. Not known to bowl very fast, with an average speed of 135 km per hour, Bhuvi can beautifully swing the ball both ways his inswingers are more potent than the outswinging ones.
Generally, Bhuvneshwar has an admirable control over his line and length. One shouldn’t forget that T20 is a batsman’s game in the latter half of the innings and the slog overs are difficult for the bowler.
He is right because every bowler is unique and has earned his right to represent the nation by sheer talent and merit. Bhuvneshwar had a forgettable outing in the recent Asia cup, but every player has a bad tournament. Predominantly a white ball cricketer, he will remain the captain’s go-to bowler because of his skills, temperament, hard work and, of course, talent.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
RVNL government corporate nexus
In Velsao, Railways/RVNL is destroying the environment, forest cover, trees etc; even in Private Properties where Land Acquisition has not been done! And to make matters worse, all these illegalities by RVNL are being done with Police Protection obviously under the authorisation of the Goa Government.
Whenever proposals are being given to the Government to protect Goan land, environment, demographics, identity, etc, Goan Ministers are quick to quote the Constitution (many times as an excuse) to subdue these genuine proposals. Can I ask the Chief Minister and Environment Minister, if all this is constitutional to allow RVNL to destroy Goa without legal permissions? Instead of protecting the Law Abiding citizens of Velsao from the Perpetrators the Govt/Police/law instead is protecting RVNL?
Yes, the deceitful politicians will suggest those affected to go legally but going legally takes time, effort, money, etc, and in the meantime a lot of destruction is done. Fact is in Goa very few will protest against Govt supported illegalities, hence one can only imagine the destruction taking place where there is weak opposition.
It appears to me that there is a clear nexus between a specific corporation(s) and the corrupt Goa Government on this double tracking issue; so much so the project should be completed at any cost even by sidestepping the law.
Arwin Mesquita, Colva
Grateful to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
India observes October 31 as the National Unity Day in memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India. He merged more than 500 princely States into India under the tricolour at the time of independence. The first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India is stamped in our mind for his devotion to the unity and to Hindu-Muslim brotherhood.
To mark the occasion of his birth anniversary in 2018 PM Modi inaugurated the 8th wonder of the world named as the Statue of Unity (182m) in order to pay homage. It is much taller than the Statue of Liberty whose height is 93 metres. The tallest statue of Sardar Patel will always remind all of us Indians of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. The country will always and forever remain grateful for his crucial efforts leading to the integration of India.
Tashi Baheti, Ujjain
Empowerment
of women
It’s quite unfortunate how we judge someone’s character or deed on the basis of his or her background. This is quite similar to passing a statement saying “they are from upper caste and therefore are of good character” despite the fact that they have been charged and proven guilty for rape.
The same should be considered when we are talking about women empowerment. The reason for asking for ‘empowerment’ was to establish ‘equality’ in the society. However, the whole empowerment drive led to creating more ‘inequality’ in the system.
It’s high time now that we work towards ‘equality’ for every being instead of ‘empowering’ a section of society because that in itself is leading to “inequality”.
Saumya Srivastava, Mumbai
Welcome to Goa’s beaches
Goa is a world tourist destination. The tourist season has got started, the tourism department began advertisements in national and western media welcoming tourist to visit Goa’s beaches, the land of sun, sand and surf to taste its menu of fish, feni and music.
I was invited by my friend for an inauguration at the Vagator beach. I took the road to Vagator via the Anjuna Church. I was shocked to see the pathetic condition of the road at certain locations passing through this area.
Till you reach the beach, the road is full of big and deep potholes and filled with country stones. At the beach, many tourists were enjoying and stray dogs were feasting on the left over garbage but tourist police and life guard was not in sight.
The tourism minister boasts that to keep the image of the State as a tourist destination he has instructed the police to ensure the safety of tourists along the coastal belt.
It is not necessary to earn revenue to the dependent State in tourism industry and welcome the tourist to Goa with a tottering infrastructure in hand.
Babluis Pereira,
Pomburpa
