As the population of Ponda increased in the last two decades, the 12-kilometer long nullah passing through four panchayats and a municipality, has turned into a garbage dumping site. The nullah was once used for agricultural and drinking purposes of the taluka. Now, farmers have to endure great hardships due to the polluted water.
The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) may have solved its garbage disposal problem and kept Ponda city clean through its systematic collection, disposal and treatment of wet and dry garbage. However, the nullah, which passes through Bethora, Ponda city, Kavlem and Bandora has been neglected, due to which it has become highly polluted.
Hidden pipes from hotels and households are releasing sewerage and waste water into the nullah at Curti and Ponda. In the monsoons, the same flows towards Kavlem and Bandora and spreads to the farmlands. As a result, agricultural activities, which are being undertaken for several decades, have been affected. The highly polluted nullah has already compelled most farmers to abandon agriculture at Kavlem and Bandora, due to which vast tracts of farmland have been kept barren.
According to Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar, efforts are on to set up a sewage treatment plant for Ponda and surrounding areas in a desperate bid to stop people from dumping waste in the nullah.
Incidentally, PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar had constructed a protection wall along the main nullah at a cost of Rs 9 crore to prevent garbage from entering the fields at Kavlem and Bandora. However, polluted water continues to flow into the fields.
Local farmer Narayan Naik has claimed that “the contamination of the nullah has forced farmers to give up agricultural activities in the last decade. Only few are carrying out cultivation. Giving up farming has resulted in an immense loss to farmers.”
There are several people who drain domestic waste and even septic tank sewage into the nullah through a pipeline hidden beneath the road and ground. Besides this, the nullah water comes down contaminated from Bethora and a liquor factory drains its effluents in the nullah without treating it.
Meanwhile, MLA Mamlatdar recalled childhood memories of people using the nullah to bathe, wash clothes, etc. He added that the nullah has now taken the form of a gutter with the release of sewerage water.
Mamledar further said that there is an urgent need for a sewerage treatment plant (STP) for Ponda. He continued, “I had made efforts to bring an STP for Ponda City but a rival party member is working against interest of Ponda for political mileage. A Rs 300 crore STP proposal has been passed and even tendered, and the work order is pending. This so-called politician, who is interested in establishing his base in Ponda Constituency, is obstructing the project by creating fear among the locals that it will create stench in their area. The landlords had even given us an NOC, but because of such people the sewerage work has been halted.”
