PORVORIM, MARCH 7
Residents of Porvorim and surrounding areas have been facing acute shortage of water for the last three days.
Saligao residents led by Saligao MLA Dilip Parulekar on Monday morning called on Assistant Engineer Prakash Surlikar and brought to his notice that they have not been receiving water supply for the last three days due to which they are facing a lot of hardships.
MLA Parulekar complained that the valve regulators are releasing water as per their whims and fancies due to which the residents of certain areas are facing water shortage.
“It is the duty of the government to supply potable water regularly in sufficient quantity to the public. There are also complaints that PWD is demanding hefty sums for releasing new water connections,” claimed Parulekar.
“The PWD should stop these corrupt practices and serve the people honestly. If residents of Saligao do not receive water on Tuesday, then they would be forced to sit on the Chogm Road with their utensils and block the traffic,” threatened Parulekar.
Later, residents of Pilerne marched to the water department and questioned the engineers for not releasing the water for days. However, the residents were not satisfied with the reasons given by the engineers.
The residents stated that they were receiving water supply regularly in 2007-08 when assistant engineer K Gopalan was in charge of Mapusa office of PWD.
“The water supply has become irregular during the course of last two years. Every time flimsy reasons are given whenever we approach the PWD with complaint of water shortage,” said the residents.
When contacted, Executive Engineer H Kamaladini informed that the electricity department had taken shut down on Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm and they had announced it in the local newspapers for the information of public.
“Due to the shutdown, there was no water supply on Sunday and Monday morning. The electricity supply resumed on Sunday evening and all the six pumps at Assnora reservoir are now working and hence there will be regular water supply from Tuesday,” assured Kamaladini.
