VIBHA VERMA
The St Inez creek – at present along some stretches almost a stinking sewer – has seen nothing more than lip service in the campaign of every candidate to the Corporation of City of Panaji and the Legislative Assembly. Other than that, nothing has been done to clean this water body.
A recent study by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), based on samples collected from 27 different locations, has detected raw sewage contamination in the creek’s water. Residents and environmentalists have been crying hoarse about this for ages; but though the authorities say they will take up the matter, on the ground nothing has actually moved to getting the creek cleaned.
Many have seen how the creek gets polluted as locals continue to dump garbage in its waters and commercial establishments, including hotels, flushing chemical wastes into it, making the waters all the more hazardous. A recently-held cleanliness drive, under the pan-India campaign Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, also did not make any headway.
CCP’s outgoing Mayor Surendra Furtado says various efforts were made during his tenure to ensure the creek’s beautification. “The 133rd meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) held on March 4, 2014 had approved this project costing Rs 19.56 lakh under JNNURM and the utilization period of this project is 24 months from the date of sanction (up to March 3, 2016),” he said.
He said that the CCP in its meeting held on May 13, 2014 had unanimously decided to handover this project to the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) as per the guidelines under JNNURM since it does not have technical expertise and other infrastructure to implement such a big project.
He stated that the proposal was sent to the GSIDC in June 2014 and with the CCP Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues, also the Managing Director of GSIDC, has been requested to expedite the project and complete it within the time limit.
“The filthy nullah can be cleaned in a phased manner under the project. It includes both – cleaning the creek as well as beautifying it,” Furtado said.
GSIDC sources have committed to completing the project within the time frame. However, nothing much can be seen on the ground, except for some PR exercises, despite people taking up the issue several times.
According to the DPR on the St Inez Creek
The 3.6 km creek is “one of the major natural features and eco-systems of Panjim; which covers about 3.6 km within the city and ultimately empties into the Mandovi River, just 1 km from the sea. With that virtue, this nullah water is subjected to tidal variations and thus emulates the Creek characteristics. Besides this creek is supposed to serve as a storm water drain for Panjim city and maintain reversal flow condition throughout the year.”
