On June 26, 2020, I made a tour of Panjim City to assess the damage caused due to rains this month and I was disappointed to note that the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) has not done any preparatory work to prevent flooding of the roads.
Drains have not been cleaned and the St Inez Creek is festering with garbage and sewage. As everyone (except politicians) knows the sewage is mostly being discharged by high rise buildings and the St Inez Creek and its surroundings have become not only an eye sore but also breeding grounds for mosquitoes which could lead to an outbreak of water borne diseases such as Malaria, Dengue and Chikungunya.
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The Miramar and Campal areas are flooding to the brim. These areas have no drainage system whatsoever to drain accumulated water into the sea. Most of the existing chambers have been purposely blocked said the CCP workers at the site and thus, especially near the Kamat Supercentre at Caranzalem, the situation is very grim. On the same day, I also noticed a tree uprooted from the pavement midway to Miramar which has still not been removed. Another tree which was lying several months fallen on compound wall (reported by me in Citizen Herald previously) remains intact as again another tree now falls in the same location near Foodland and further damage has taken place.
When some activities of CCP workers is going slow on the job of clearing drain and garbage collection including closing of concrete slabs at various places, I found another activity going on at full speed that is a construction of a concrete retaining wall at the side of pavement starting opposite the Science Centre Miramar and culminating at the Sulabh toilets. This wall probably works as support to a housing construction in the near future. Panjimites have not yet been taken into confidence about these projects coming up along the beach as there has been no transparency. These works are undertaken by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.
The city though under the domain of a Corporation is functioning worse than a Municipal Council and the Corporation has done nothing to alleviate the sufferings of the residents of the capital city.
What a shame that every year despite promises, all the pre-monsoons works are so shabbily undertaken. The Mayor should wake up before the city is totally damaged.
