A few weeks ago, an acquaintance and supporter of social/community welfare, Anish who lives in the heart of Camrabhat sent images of debris and mud dumped into the St Inez Creek on a WhatsApp group. We visited the location and found that this dumping was at two locations at the tail end of the life line of Panjim and Taleigao. One was a 4-mt stretch next to the culvert/old sluice gate and the other one was behind the Govt Primary School in Camrabhat around 100-150 mts away from the culvert/bridge. We were horrified to also see water from this section being pumped out. Now why would water from the creek be pumped?
We met the operator, the supervisor who informed us that a wall was being built on the edge of one side of the creek next to the motorable road and further where there were small huts, toilets on a private property. We also noticed that there was more mud and debris dumped on the low lying land behind the newly built toilet in this area. We made frantic calls to inquire. Here the work was been done by WRD, permissions given by Panchayat. Work order says to build flood wall! Roughly of around 120 mts length. What is a flood wall? It is one that can prevent flooding? Yes, if it is continues along a water body and does not allow water to come into land where there are people. No, if it is not continuous and water is coming from the sky during heavy rainfall! Is it one that can save you from flooding? No. It is simply a measure that can delay the impact and effects of flooding. So what can save one from flooding? Simply, a boat! Or relocation to safer ground.
At this same time, a senior citizen friend, social activist, Arun Patil raised an alarm about another ‘massive’ dumping of mud into the Creek next to the Sewage Treatment Plant at Tonca. On visiting the location we saw a gabion wall placed in the middle of the narrow creek and mud dumped in between. The private owner of the land along the road is a local builder. The person in charge showed permissions from the local panchayat to execute the work. If the objective was to widen the road, it is mandatory to widen the road from the land side not into the creek! If the objective was to build a wall along the bank, it is mandatory to build the wall along the bank, not into the creek! Imagine what would have happened to the Mandovi River, if embankments and walls were allowed to be built this way. Our river would have been half its current width and every monsoon all of us would be swimming in the flood waters while our homes and apartments, etc, would be ruins of a city gone underwater.
Any natural resource, and in this case any natural water body is a common one. It means the creek belongs to everybody. We can access it, walk along it, catch fish, go in a boat, swim in it and celebrate it. We are all the custodians of it. And yes, we cannot pollute, encroach, fill up, build on or block the creek. St Inez creek is the life line of Panjim and Taleigao. What does that mean?
In the city’s jurisdiction, it is affected by tidal currents. It is connected to the river, Mandovi. Because of these tidal currents, it brings in fish, fish spawn, and we use all of this. It also helps in flushing out the creek. This means that during the rain it helps in carrying away the huge amount of rain water that flows from, not only the surrounding areas adjacent to the creek, but also the larger catchment area of Altinho hill and low lying wetlands nearby. In Taleigao village, the St Inez Creek becomes the critical lifeline because all rain water from the University plateau and hills of Nagali and Taleigao flows into the low lying fields and wetlands. These are the water bowls of our village. From here there are channels that take the rain water from different regions of the village and empty into the Creek at Camrabhat. What does this mean? It means every field, wetland and low lying area cannot be filled up. And the creek itself must be free from any encroachments and dumping. Why do cities like Mumbai and Chennai get flooded? Simply because of encroachments of its water bodies, channels and natural drainage.
Amidst all this, another friend, architect and builder Gaurang shared his insights. He was extremely forthright saying that the two critical things that need to be urgently done are, first rehabilitate all the informal settlements along the creek by providing them with safe, permanent housing with proper toilets on any land available nearby and notify 3 to 5 mts strip along the entire length of the creek as a No Development Zone (NDZ). That is, I must admit, a cracker of a solution as a long-term step. Architect Nisha too has published a superb comprehensive and inclusive long-term plan for the St Inez Creek that is critical to adopt. We can easily do this. Join my colleagues Xavier, Pundalik, Arnaldo, Candido and other farmers to save the creek for posterity.
(Tallulah D’Silva is a practising architect in Goa and has recently taught at the Goa College of Architecture).
