The intention may have been good, but the execution of a major project in Siolim has bewildered residents of the village, with many now sceptical about the entire project.
Residents have expressed concern over the long delay in the construction of a sluice gate and a bandhara near the Siolim Church and have now feared that the age-old drains around the Church have been covered with mud by workers of the Water Resource Department (WRD), which could lead to flooding during the rains.
“Since the last couple of years, the work has been undertaken by the WRD and we do not know what exactly is happening there. Earlier, a bridge was built and the traditional sluice gates were closed down. As a result, our fields were submerged with rainwater,” said a resident Fatima Fernandes.
“Last year, a few farmers had cultivated their fields with great difficulty, while the rest could not cultivate their fields. We got to understand that a bandhara is being constructed for over a crore of rupees,” she added.
Another villager, Agnelo Noronha, complained that there “was no transparency in the construction of the project, which is now running into its second year and is estimated at Rs 1.2 crore.”
“During the last gram sabha in October 2013, we the residents had sought to know from the panchayat regarding the nature of the project and the status of the construction work since the last one year. After all, we are tax payers and we have the right to know the nature of works being executed in our village. The panchayat body told us that they knew nothing about it, as the project work was undertaken by the local MLA,” said Noronha.
Alex Fernandes was also sceptical about the project. “We were supposed to cultivate our fields in November 2013 and we do it twice before the rains. But this time, we started cultivating our fields only in January due to excess rainwater in the fields. We are now wondering if we can cultivate the fields for the second time. There is no transparency about the project and we are kept in the dark. We do not even know if this project will benefit us or not,” he said.
When contacted, Siolim Sarpanch Savita Govekar clarified that the WRD has undertaken up the project work. “We are aware of the project and it will definitely benefit the villagers at large,” said Govekar.
WRD Minister Dayanand Mandrekar sought to downplay the matter. “For any details and information about the project, please contact the junior engineer concerned and if the people want to know the details about the project, they can come and ask me directly,” said Mandrekar.
Providing the details regarding the project, WRD Junior Engineer Sailesh Phaldesai explained that the Rs 1.2 crore project involves the construction of sluice gates on one side and a bandhara on the other side.
“The bandhara will not allow the saline water to seep into the fields and the new sluice gates will have modern technology with FRP (fibre) gates instead of the traditional wooden gates. Besides, they will automatically open and close as per the tides,” said Phaldesai.
“The bandhara gates, which have to be operated manually once a year, will be handed over to the farmers’ committee/association to operate. The bandhara gates have to be opened manually before the rains and closed manually after the rains, so that saline water does not enter into the fields.”
Commenting on allegations that WRD worker had blocked the age-old drains around the Church, Phaldesai said, “The mud that covers the drains due to this project will be cleared as soon as this project is over. We could not commence this project in October as projected due to excess water, but we resumed the work in December and it should end by February. On completion, the project will benefit the farmers as they will be able to cultivate their fields much better than in the past.”
