Panjim: It’s the sight before the stink. Walking on the promenade of Panjim along the Patto bridge to Campal gives way to the stink and stench of the St Inez Nullah, which could have been a very good artery. Today it virtually chokes Panjim.
A 4.2 kilometer Nullah runs across the city from Old GMC building up to Camrabhat. The Camrabhat area which is a tail end of the Nullah, has a high concentration of illegal hutments
Illegal huts on the bank of nullah in Camarabhat area which are without any sanitary facilities, conveniently release sewage in the nullah.
Commenting on “illegal huts” however Commissioner of Corporation of the City of Panjim ( CCP) Elvis Gomes said “illegal hutments” have to go. A former councilor Patricia Pinto who is well aware of inherent problems afflicting the city, said cleaning of nullah alone will not end the problem. It has to be seen that no sewage is released into the nullah. And that is a tough task.
City fathers have though time and again talked about the need to clean the nullah nothing concrete has been done except for their feeble attempts get funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Rural Development Mission (JNNURM) .
“Though a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Rs 23 crore for cleaning and upgrading St Inez nullah was prepared but it has not been forwarded to the government. The sub-committee that examines DPRs prepared to avail funds under the JNNURM scheme have suggested certain changes , pointed out Gomes who also believes there has to be some arrangements to see that no waste is released into the nullah once it is renovated and de-silted.
Nullah was disilted about year and a half ago after some active Panjimites in a letter to the High Court complaint that Nullah had turned into a health hazard. The CCP reluctantly took up the work and desilted the nullah on the directive of the High Court. But the nullah continues to look filthy as ever as dumping of waste and sewage has not stopped.
