The Margao Town has begun stinking of sewage overflowing from all the drains. There have been at least three instances in the MMC jurisdiction where sewage water from hotels, buildings and residential complexes is seen overflowing from the septic tanks and pits. Though all are blaming the Sewerage Department for not getting the underground system ready on time, lots of ignorance has also been noticed from the MMC towards this problem.
Commissioning of the 6.75 MLD sewage treatment plant, being constructed through Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the plant of the Sewerage Corporation at Shirvodem has been going on for several years now. A new deadline is being set every time the old one is breached. The work is shrouded in mystery as the ground work of the plant is completed but is waiting to get power for to the plant to start functioning.
The existing Sewerage Treatment Plant which is of 7.5 MLD capacity has practically reached saturation point and needs relief as soon as possible.
Interestingly there are three different agencies looking after the three sewerage treatment plants at Sirvodem in Margao. One division of PWD is looking after the existing plant while another division has been specially created to handle the new plant being constructed through JICA. The Sewerage & Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Limited is setting up another plant of 20 MLD.
The fall out of the delay is the crumbling sewage handling capacity of the town which is being seen nowadays in major residential and commercial areas. A residential complex of the Kurtarkars developers having over 100 occupied flats is caught up in trouble after both their septic tanks gave way recently. As depicted in the pictures above all the sewage is flowing out of the tanks and is spread on road sides. Along with bad stink the flow has caused nuisance to the pedestrians and the commercial establishments in the building.
The same problem had occurred in the past after which the septic tank was repaired and covered again. The problem has come back in just 4 to 5 months. The society of the building and the developer says “The capacity of the tanks to hold sewerage has got exhausted and now we will have to add one more tank for which we do not have space”. The local Councillor Sugandha Bandekar said “The Sewerage department has to start connecting these lines soon since the problem may get even worse as the summer season progresses.”
Yet another case of sewage being released in the open has been reported in Borda where sewage has been let into a drain which is leading towards the Borda main road. The people residing on the main road have complained regarding the problem and the nuisance it has been creating. There has been no solution worked out to this problem till now.
MMC’s Sanitation department has received the complaint but has failed to curb the problem. When asked the officials of Sanitation department said, “The engineers and the officials give licences to the commercial establishments on the basis of the sewage storage provision and disposal. If there is flow out that means that there is no proper system in place and then the Sanitation section is blamed.”
All these problems have pointed towards one question i.e. when is the STP plant going to start and handle the sewage of the town and suburbs?
The treatment plant financed by JICA was to be commissioned by February end. It is learnt that divergence of funds to some other project may have resulted in the long delay as one of the reasons cited by the officials is not payment of dues to the contractor.
The code of conduct is a convenient excuse being cited by the officials while the actual reason is apparently because the contractor has not been paid his dues. It is learnt that the contractor’s dues amount Rs. 10 cr for works already done.
When asked how this situation could arise given the fact that JICA is funding the project and funds must have been sent by the agency, officials had no answer and refused to answer the direct question whether funds were diverted for some other project.
