Some 15 years ago, the then Leader of Opposition (late) Manohar Parrikar headed a State Level High Powered Committee in which he had tried to tackle several ecological issues facing Panjim city. The revival of St Inez creek was one of the objectives. Nandakumar Kamat was an active member; this author attended several meetings as an invitee. It was unequivocally proved to Parrikar that the SoI toposheets of 1964 clearly marked the saline tidal influx nearly 2 km inside, beyond the present day fire station. One of the noteworthy outcomes of these meetings was that the tidally influenced saline water way would henceforth be referred to as St Inez creek, and not ‘nallah’ as was being sought by avaricious corporates. The GSIDC has all relevant records in their custody.
The environmental setting of Panjim city changed drastically with the advent of anthropogenic activities driven by the insatiable greed of certain stakeholders. The “development” witnessed since the 1980s started the slow demise of the tidal creek. To highlight these issues, Nandkumar Kamat has written and warned about the irreversible consequences of lopsided projects being undertaken with scant respect to the fundamental principles of ecology. This author has contributed as well. Since the ecological aspects have been overlooked as conservation of natural heritage of the city stand ignored. If well researched scholarly articles with scientific interpretations and recommendations cannot drive sense into the brains of our managers, a hidden agenda is obvious. What more can scientists do?
A close look at the Survey of India (SoI) Toposheet published in 1964 reveals that the entire landscape around Panjim city was then a marshy wetland, thinly populated, but occupied by paddy fields and orchards. St Inez creek was a part and still constitutes the antecedent drainage of the area. A smaller arm of River Mandovi, the St Inez creek was fully functional during the early 1960s. The daily tidal ingress of saline waters was then routinely observed up to and even beyond Tonca. Obviously, when the creek was functional, the tidal effect was experienced twice daily. As a student during the 1970s, this author regularly witnessed city dwellers using fishing gear, as fish was plenty, particularly along the stretch up to the present day Fire Brigade station. Occurrence of mangroves also signifies saline water influx. This activity also proves that the creek was productive, oxygenated and nutrient-rich in the late 1970s.
At the moment, the historical ‘Estuario de St Ines’ is under unprecedented human onslaught as never before. Some kind of a thoughtless ‘beautification’ plan is being executed. Consider these topics:
(1) The massacre of ancient trees using not one, but two heavy earth movers is unprecedented. A natural stable bank with vegetation has been ruthlessly levelled, ostensibly in favour of a wide road. There was no need to disturb mangroves that lined the creek at places. Smaller mangrove shoals within the wider creek are bound to ensure the return of marine fauna and, as a consequence, the productivity of the creek.
(2) A long stretch of the creek upstream has been dredged indiscriminately without any justification. With the kind of reckless dredging, the level of the creek base with respect to river tide level is not known. Such an approach is irrational. In fact, the sludge that forms the top layer had to be removed in totality along the entire stretch, followed by the dredging of the thin layer of sediment that may have accumulated beneath the muck over the years.
(3) Both the banks in the St Inez and Tonca stretch have been concretised rapidly. Vertical walls replace an erstwhile natural bank. Mangroves cannot withstand, riparian biodiversity will not sustain, and wild otters have no chance to endure. Eco-friendly laterite embankments are ideal. The flanks of the any water body should never be vertical.
(4) Sorrowfully, the original width of the creek is now reduced to almost half. A reduction in spatial area will also result in a proportional decrease in the volume of water that the creek would accommodate in the event of floods, resulting in abnormal rise in water level, overtopping of banks and inundating the hinterland. For such a project, a rapid EIA was the least they could do, but even a nominal study is missing. The entire programme lacks scientific validity.
The shocking aspect is that the Goa CZMP 2021 has not designated the creek as a tidal water body. The water way is marked as a faint thin blue line that mysteriously ends halfway at Tonca. The tidally influenced heritage creek ought to have been classified as a distinct inland water body under CRZ laws. In the ODP of Taleigao, the ancient creek is shamelessly marked as ‘nallah’, right from Campal up to the open fields of Taleigao.
The Panjim city ODP 2021 does show the waterway, but the mouth of the creek is not shown, as it abruptly ends at the road near Inox. And it is not surprising that large areas of Taleigao in particular, are shown in shades of blue which represent commercial areas in the ODP. As such, multi-storied skyscrapers are bound to flourish all along an erstwhile natural tidal water course. Consequently, the St Inez creek will get sandwiched between huge structures, lot of garbage and sewage pouring in, thus converting an ancient creek into an anoxic dysfunctional canal. The tipping point is crossed. The extermination of a tidal water body is not too far.
(Dr Antonio Mascarenhas is a former Scientist, NIO, Goa)
