TEAM HERALD
CALANGUTE: The haste to complete road-widening works and other projects in and around Calangute, especially during Christmas season, is taking a toll on the existing infrastructure, with pipelines or cables getting damaged due to haphazard planning and coordination.
In one such incident, huge quantities of water was wasted after a PWD pipeline was recently damaged by a bulldozer involved in road-widening work along the border of Porba-Agar Vaddo in Calangute.
“Water was gushing out to such an extent that the area was flooded with water and many tankers could easily have been filled with the wasted water. We don’t get water on a daily basis and this water, which was wasted, could have been utilized for better purpose,” said Sarvesh Korgaonkar.
Another local, Sontenes D’Souza, said, “The area was totally flooded and seeing people struggle, especially children and the elderly, I moved them to the other end on my two-wheeler. The water pressure was very strong and a lot of water was wasted.”
When contacted, local Calangute Panch Matias D’Souza said he saw the water entering his compound and he went to find out the source of the water leakage.
“I saw the road flooded and water wasted. Over 40 water tankers could have been filled with the wasted water. We get water on every alternate day and I do not understand who exactly benefits from this pipeline, as there are only three houses in the area,” said D’Souza.
“People of my ward long for regular water supply and they are curious to know the beneficiaries of this pipeline,” the panch added.
According to PWD officials at Calangute, the water pipeline is meant to supply water to the consumers in Calangute. They confirmed that the pipeline was damaged during to ongoing road-widening works.
Calangute Panch Joseph Sequeira also rushed to the site and took stock of the
situation.
It may be recalled that telephone cables were damaged last year during Christmas season when a bulldozer damaged the telephone cables, while undertaking underground power cabling work at Tivai waddo in Calangute. As a result, people were left without telephone and internet services for many days in and around Calangute.
