The people of Margao have been dealing with the flowing sewage water from the manholes and drains for the last several years.
The authorities say that the plant is not commissioned and hence the sewage lines remain redundant. Sewage, which overflows near the Fatima Convent School, has irked the locals and the school students. Now a resident and a commercial establishment owner besides the drain have written to the MMC demanding immediate relief.
“The gutters are not cleaned at all for so many years and are now overflowing due to blockages. This is an environmental issue since it is causing lot of health problems to the residents and also to the School students. It is also emitting bad odours which is causing a lot of discomfort,” said the complainant Narhari Narvenkar.
The complainant has requested the MMC to clean the gutters and cover it with proper cement blocks.
Former chairperson of MMC Savio Coutinho said “At the request of the Principal of Fatima Convent, I have been following up the sewage flow for last two months. Ward councillor Damodar assured that the work will be taken on priority. Estimates were prepared and quotations were invited and submitted as well. Now the contractor claims that the repairs cannot be taken up at the estimated cost. This is a very confusing way of functioning of the MMC,” says Savio.
A similar but much more serious case of sewage flow from a man hole was brought to light by the local councillor of Comba recently.
“It is sad to state that the officials are playing with health of people. This may give rise to various diseases such as Malaria, Dengue, etc, alleged local Councillor Ketan Kurtarkar. As a result of the inaction, the entire residential area was flooded with sewerage water at Vithal Mandir, Comba, Margao.
BJYM President and Comba Local Sharmad Raiturkar said “We Combkaars and the affected people warn the department of massive agitation if they do not solve the issue of flowing leakage.”
They have demanded that the North Main Sewerage line be repaired since this causes the problem.
The Engineers of the Sewage Division of the PWD have said that the problem will not be solved during rains and hence they will have to wait for a dry spell to get the same repaired.
Similar open flow of sewage has been seen in areas like Ambaji, Gogal, Margao town and Market areas and the people have still not got any respite.
