HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MERCES, MAY 24
After death, bodies of the dead are buried in the
cemetery so that they can rest in eternal peace.
However, for the dead of Santa Barbara Chapel, Chimbel,
it seems their cup of woes are far from over as sewage
water flowing from Indira Nagar seeps into the cemetery,
raising concern among the Catholic community in the area.
The incident is believed to have occurred for more than a
month now, which came to light during a funeral of one of
the villagers that was attended by a large number of
Catholics from various places of the State.
When this scribe visited the cemetery, it was seen that
the waste of Indira Nagar flows right behind the cemetery
and into the fields.
However, due to the laying of water pipelines in close
vicinity to the cemetery, the broad passage has now
become narrow and restricted the flow of sewage water.
Waste, like plastic bags and bottles, has also clogged
the pipes that are supposed to carry the sewage water
into the fields. As a result, the sewage along with the
waste gets accumulated behind the cemetery, which
ultimately leads to the seepage of sewage into the
cemetery.
On May 17, Mathias Quadros complained to the Chimbel
panchayat and sought its intervention to solve the issue
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with a request to divert the flow of Indira Nagar sewage
away from the cemetery.
However, it was only when Herald contacted Chimbel
Sarpanch Chandrakant Kunkolkar, the panchayat authorities
conducted a site inspection to ascertain the facts.
Since no action was forthcoming, the Catholics again met
the sarpanch and sought his help to solve the issue at
the earliest since pre-monsoon showers have already hit
the State and the situation is likely to get worse once
the rains set in.
Kunkolkar immediately employed some labourers and ordered
to open the blocked passage so that the sewage water is
drained out.
However, the temporary arrangement is unlikely to solve
the issue completely and the Catholics have demanded that
the panchayat build a concrete drainage wide enough to
carry the flow of Indira Nagar sewage away from the
cemetery.
Since the stagnation of sewage has weakened one side of
the cemetery compound, Santa Barbara Chapel Catholics
have also demanded that a protective wall be built on
that side to strengthen it.
