GUILHERME ALMEIDA
It was Monday evening. The administration had on Sunday forecast heavy showers during the next 72 hours in view of the deep depression developing in the Arabian Sea off Goa coast. As it turned out, the State witnessed a relatively dry spell with bright sunny weather, but the ecologically sensitive Rumder bundh road at Nuvem was still partially submerged, with water flowing over the bundh throughout Monday and the next day too.
In fact, the Nuvem bypass, which was built ahead of the Lusofonia Games, has come back to haunt the administration, with local activists now attributing the Rumder bundh water overflowing to the “unscientific” construction of the road bypass.
Says activist Zarinha Da Cunha: “The government had built the bypass through the low lying fields. No engineer in the world would justify such a huge project in a lake and water catchment area. We had warned the government not to rush with the project in an unscientific manner. The result is now for all to see”.
She said that Nuvem has suffered more from manmade disaster as warned by Agriculture Department and Bio-diversity Board barely 10 months ago. “The link road cross drainage failed as the pipes were not of any use as proven in Cuncolim and at many other places in the State. The mud dumped for the road has totally compromised the catchment area of River Sal bandhara system.
The activist further stated loss of standing crop and destruction of fields and water-logging of houses close by, inundation of roads connecting to internal wards at Rumder and Dongorim for many days also proves that this is not at all a so-called progress and development by the state administration.
Villager Jose Roque Andrade attributed the inundation of the road to filling of low-lying areas and the illegal filling of the water catchment area on the eastern side of the bypass. To overcome the situation, Andrade has suggested to the authorities to remove and clear the illegal filling and create additional openings by way of culverts across the bypass for smooth flow of water. He has also suggested raising the level of the Rumder bundh road to check overflowing.
Nuvem Zilla Panchayat member, Wilfred D’Sa, however, begged to differ. “I do not think the flooding has anything to do with the road bypass. This is the time when water is stored in the lake. Water has overflowed over the Rumder bundh due to water storage in the lake and due to the heavy showers. This had happened in the past too.
On the other hand, Nuvem MLA, Mickky Pacheco said since the Rumder road was left inundated earlier this week, the authorities should verify and inspect the site and take necessary measures to prevent recurrence of the flood.
“The present government had built the bypass, which was proposed by the Congress regime. The administration should have taken precautions to avoid flooding”, he added, while saying that he would call all the departments to carry out the site inspection.
Incidentally, the Goa State Bio-diversity Board had warned the authorities that the road bypass has had detrimental effect on local ecology, economy and diversity, while recommending implementation of necessary road and landscape engineering to avoid further deterioration in the ecological status of the area.
The State Bio-diversity Board had further noted that since much of the paddy field expanse serves as wetland for residential and migratory waders and storks, the altered topographic features of the fragmented landscape may interfere with navigatory skills of winter migrants, adding that the bypass road has also reduces the area of foraging.
