PANJIM: Flooding has been occurring for at least two decades during every monsoon in the State’s capital city. The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) from its side, as on date has done everything possible to desilt the drains, City Mayor Rohit Monserrate said on Tuesday.
Monserrate said that the Portuguese-era drains which were not desilted for the past 20 years are being cleaned now and added that all major storm water drains and culverts leading from Panjim city to river Mandovi have been cleaned by CCP.
“Panjim has been flooding for the past 20 years, it doesn’t matter what one says or claims, the truth is Panjim flooded. As far as CCP is concerned, we have done everything possible. We have roped in additional labourers, we have cleared every single drain in the city as of now,” Monserrate claimed.
He said that necessary instructions have been issued to contractors concerned to clean the drains that have been clogged while executing the Smart City works.
Ridhima Surlekar, a resident of Panjim opined that the CCP alone cannot be blamed for the present mess in Panjim.
“You cannot directly hold CCP responsible if Panjim witnesses major flooding during monsoon, agencies and departments who have dug the roads in the city in the name of Smart City should be held accountable. CCP should be pulled up for giving their consent to implement multiple projects at one go,” Surlekar said.
“This is not the time to comment on what happened in the past, the authorities concerned should focus on the current situation and work towards reducing the damage in the monsoon,” Panjim resident Praful Patil said.
Meanwhile, CCP on Tuesday said that it has initiated an inquiry into an alleged ‘scam’ in sopo (market tax) at the municipal market in Panjim.
It is pertinent to note that former Mayor and senior Councillor Uday Madkaikar had alleged a scam in sopo collection of the CCP claiming it to be running into lakhs of rupees.
When contacted, CCP Mayor Rohit Monserrate said, “I have spoken to the CCP Commissioner, we are conducting an inquiry, and he is in the middle of that (inquiry). He believes it was done on somebody’s behest and somebody was forcing these people to collect sopo without issuing a paper-receipt. We will find out and whoever is responsible, we will get rid of him.”
The Mayor said that the CCP has now decided to outsource the sopo collection.
