TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Government’s ambitious plan to stop Margao’s raw sewage from flowing into the once picturesque Salpem tolem and restoration of the lake to its pristine glory may be hit by a delay with the state facing by an acute resource crunch.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s go-ahead signal to build a tank to collect sewage water from water nullahs emptying into the Salpem lake and link the same to the sewage treatment plant at Sirvodem has not changed the ground reality so far. While the Sewerage & Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa had tendered the project at a huge cost of Rs 35-38 crore, work could not commence for want of funds.
Herald inquiries have revealed that the Sewerage Corporation is waiting for the government’s financial approval to execute the project. In fact, the Corporation is now hoping against hope that the Chief Minister will finally arrange and release the funds after Ganesh Chathurti to start work on the ambitious project.
The project was mooted by the Chief Minister in a bid to stop sewage water from Margao finding its way into the Salpem lake and put an end to contamination of the lake water.
An official in the know said work on the ambitious project will take minimum one year to execute the project, but hastened to add that the fate of the project would depend on the availability of funds.
Navelim MLA Avertano Furtado, however, said that it is just a matter of time before work on the de-contamination of the Salpem lake water begins. “The government has chalked out a plan to beautify the Salpem lake once sewage water is stopped from flowing into the water body. The lake will be beautified taking into account local requirements. We will try and restore the lake to its pristine glory. Our first priority now is to implement the tank building project, which will take care of the sewage water from Margao,” Avertano said.
Incidentally, the government has in principle agreed to de-notify the land which was sought to be acquired by the Congress government towards the expansion of the existing sewerage plant and to act as a buffer zone. “The matter will be placed before the Cabinet meeting before a final decision is taken on the land acquisition. Chief Minister has already promised the farmers cultivating the fields to de-notify the land saying the huge land is not required for the sewerage expansion project,” the Navelim MLA said.
