The Goa Sewerage System and Sanitation Services Management Act 2008 & Rules 2010 is ten years old now. No Panchayats have taken this Act seriously. The Government has begun to lay pipes for centralised system for waste water treatment only in Municipalities and few constituency where heavy weight MLA’s have been vocal. Why do we need a sewerage treatment plant now after we have destroyed the water table and ground?
This is normal in India, Goa with politicians, TCP & PWD engineers and GSPCB officials act after the damage is done. All the major cities of Goa which were the first to be concretised with high-rise buildings, modern houses have lost their fresh well water for ever because the soak pits have polluted the ground soil and water table. This is bound to happen in villages too. The Swatcch Bharat mission is now on an aggressive campaign for construction of 70000-odd toilets to stop open defecation. One solution another problem we create. Why not do things in better way since thousand of toilets have to be constructed at the same time the soak pits have to be done away and introduce Bio-toilets/ STP system to treat the sewage water and even if RO is added the water is converted for drinking as PWD Minister says.
I feel the government should enact a law for decentralising of waste water treatment in the villages immediately. In the villages there are buildings which were built before the new TCP rule asking builders to provide STP for a complex above 25 units and what about those below 20, are they suppose to continue with soak pits and destroy the environment and hygiene in the village? With funds available the Panchayat Minister should ask all Panchayats to opt for the decentralised system and take the help of the team consisting of Chief Secretary/member secretary of GSPCB, just returned from Portugal after studying the system. I hope it does not turn into a foreign jaunt tour at the exchequer’s cost.
