Team Herald
VALPOI: For the last 15 years, the banks of Hivrem river have been caving in every monsoon and the river is becoming wider and wider by swallowing up large swaths of agricultural land.
The river has become so wide that during the next monsoon, it could swallow up some houses, rendering the inhabitants homeless. Fearing danger to their houses, the locals have been requesting the local MLA, for years, to construct a retaining wall along the river bank, but in vain. Hivrem village falls under Poriem constituency. The villagers are angry that their MLA shows no seriousness in solving their problem.
“Our village river overflows every monsoon washing off our agriculture land and the plantations such as banana, cashew and coconut. We have been facing losses since the last fifteen years. We have complained to our MLA, but he is not ready to take any action,” said Ramnath Gaonkar, a villager.
“One day, our houses will be washed off in the floods. We have been raising this issue in gram sabha, past several years but the panchayat has not taken any action,” said Fati Gaonkar, another villager.
“Every election, our representatives promise to solve all our problems. But after the election, they forget our very existence,” said Sitha Gaonkar, a local woman.
Local Panch Satyawan Gaonkar said that a month ago, the gram sabha had passed a resolution to construct a retaining wall along the river at Temb wada. “We have submitted the resolution to the Water Resources Department at Valpoi. I have asked the government to construct a retaining hall immediately. If no wall is built before the next monsoon, ten houses will be washed away by floods,” Satyawan added.
