Three decades old sewerage line needs urgent replacement
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Do not be surprised if the sewage chamber behind the district hospital at Ambaji, here, under construction resembles a “water fountain” this monsoon.
The PWD has found a convenient mode of diverting the sewage water from the chamber into an adjoining water nullah. While the diversion will give relief to water oozing out from the sewage chamber, it has raised a stink, with local inhabitants complaining of stench in the locality.
The discharge of the sewage water in the adjoining water nullah once again brings to the fore the state of the near three-decade-old underground sewerage line ~ connecting Chandrawado, Fatorda, to the sewage treatment plant at Sirvodem-Navelim.
Residents have complained time and gain about the stink. Jacinto Miranda, who stays behind the district hospital under construction, said the discharge of water from the underground line has created a stench in the locality. “The water has now accumulated in the drain touching the NH1-17,” he said, while making an appeal to the authorities concerned to work out a permanent solution to the sewage problem.
PWD officials in private expressed their helplessness in tackling the problems facing this stretch of the underground line. “This is an annual phenomenon we have to tackle because the underground line from Chandrawado to the sewage treatment plant is damaged and beyond repairs. Piece meal works offers only temporary solution. What we require is the replacement of the entire stretch of the underground line,” remarked an engineer in the know.
Rough estimates prepared by the PWD revealed that the work of replacing the underground line from the STP to the district hospital will cost Rs 63 crore. “The project is under the active consideration of the government, but would take shape only after the proposal receives an official nod,” the official added.
