SELAULIM: The delay in monsoon has only caused more anxiety to the 4,000 villagers, mostly sugarcane farmers, who live near Selaulim dam.
The irony of their plight is not lost on them. They gave up their land 40 years ago so that the rest of Goa could meet its water requirements via the Selaulim dam and they were forced to be rehabilitated to Vaddem village. Alas! The same people now do not get proper drinking water as the 30-year-old pipelines are in a dilapidated state, and the Public Works Department’s promise to supply water to them via the JICA project has yet to see the light of day.
What makes it even worse is their livelihood is dependent on farming. There are plenty of sugarcane plantations, but they are devoid of water. Despite living near the massive Selaulim dam, they do not get sufficient water for agriculture.
“I have tried to get the PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar to try and see that the grievances of farmers and families affected by this problem are addressed, but forget water supply or JICA, the situation remains the same,” said Sanguem MLA Subash Faldessai.
Faldessai added that arrangements through water tankers had been made and that these people had been facing massive problems. He had also raised the issue in the legislative assembly several times.
Sanguem Zilla Panchayat member Navnath Naik said 89 families were still to get a plot that was promised to them. He added the people had felt let down after watching their original village getting submerged but lives in the hope that their lives would not get affected and yet have to deal with these basic infrastructure problems.
Around 350 families were relocated to three colonies of Vaddem, while 200 families were transferred to the three colonies of Valkinim, which comes under Bhati panchayat.
“We had sugarcane crops at Selaulim, Kudnemm and Curdi and large farms to grow vegetables. On the promise of the government in 1975 we happily gave up our lands for the dam and the development of a water reservoir for south Goa,” said J Gauncar.
Gaunkar had a small agricultural land, but it got submerged as well. He and others felt cheated after allowing the government to acquire their land.
“We should have been the beneficiaries of the drinking water from the dam. During the monsoons, when there is power failure, we can’t get pump water from the bore wells also,” said Gajanan Kurdikar, a member of the rehabilitation committee of the Selaulim irrigation project.
“Why is the government only talking about JICA project which will be inaugurated when they cannot repair the water pipelines? There should be better maintenance to stop leakages and contamination,” said Sushant Gaunkar, adding, “How can the farm land that was given to us as part of the rehabilitation package lack irrigational supply? This is something they should have ensured first.”
“Governments have come and gone and promises have not been fulfilled. Our village boasts of the best production of sugarcane cultivation in Goa. As it is, there is hardly any water supply, but when there is no power, the supply of water to our sugarcane fields completely stops” added Salvador Pereira.
Vaddem panchayat said they are not in a position to do more than forward the complaints to the government and are hopeful that the JICA project will finally end their sorrows.
But the irony could not have been starker. Those who gave up so much to give drinking water to Goa hardly have a drop to drink.
