Permissions are still being sought for digging more roads to construct more chambers till 2023, when the deadline for the project was 2018
PONDA: A sewage treatment plant supposed to be complete in 2018, is supposedly 95% complete a figure that hasn’t changed for two years. In 2022 Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited asked for permission to dig more roads.
Commuting on these bad roads, which have been dug to lay sewerage lines, has been a nightmare for the residents.
The work on Ponda 15 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) has remained incomplete, with the officials claiming that almost all works stand complete.
The STP building constructed after six years has not been made operational. The officials too are not providing the details of the pending work or technical problems faced by them, the residents complain.
The STP project was undertaken considering the pollution of the water bodies such as springs, wells, nullahs, and agricultural land due to the discharge of waste from households and commercial establishments in the town and the nearby village panchayats. The main nullah in the town has been polluted due to waste released into it.
The work on Rs 534 crore STP which includes laying of sewerage network lines, digging of chambers, construction of STP building, etc, commenced in 2016 on the town’s outskirts in Kavlem and was expected to complete in 2018.
Now, the work has remained incomplete as it failed to meet the extended deadline of 2021. Since the past two years, the officials have been on record saying that 95 percent of the work on the STP has been completed and that the project is ready for inauguration, the residents claim.
The ground reality is that the work is still pending due to technical issues.
Sewerage and PWD sources confirmed that the Goa Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has sought fresh permission from the PWD for road digging to construct a few more chambers and that the work would continue up to May 2023. In the last week, the contractor dug up and opened the massive chamber near the municipal garden to complete pending work.
The road was hot mixed recently. Three of the seven farmers on whose land STP has been built accused the sewerage officials of cheating them and grabbing their land by not fulfilling the conditions mentioned in the agreement.
On account of the pending work, around 30 to 40 per cent of the roads have not been hot mixed leaving the roads in bad shape. For example, the people even protested the bad condition of the Daag-Ponda road due to delay in the STP work.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said, “In some places the sewerage work is pending which has also been impacted by rains. I will visit Ponda soon to inspect the sewerage work and find an early solution to restore roads.”
Blaming the consultant for the delay in completing the STP, Ponda MLA and Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik said the consultant failed to conduct a proper study of the ground before undertaking drilling work for laying pipelines.
Meanwhile, there is an interesting divergence of positions between the Sewerage Corporation and the PWD.
Pradeep Gaude, an official from the Goa Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited said no work is pending on the 15 MLD projects. Work was hit for some period due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The basalt rock formation was a big hurdle while laying the sewerage lines in the final stage for a distance of just 230 meters which delayed the work for the past two years.
However, officials of the PWD (Road Division) said the Goa Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has not provided the completion certificate for the 40 percent of the work carried out by them. They said unless the work is complete they cannot take up hot mix carpeting of these roads in Ponda.
Social activist Viral Sapre said, “Besides the Kapileshwari-Daag road, the Ponda market road too has turned bumpy due to the pending sewerage work and people are suffering”
