SIOLIM: Villagers of Siolim-Sodiem were in for a shock, when water released from the Tillari Irrigation project entered many houses in the area on Thursday morning.Two houses suffered damages, while fields situated at Siolim-Sodiem were inundated due to overflowing of water from Tillari dam canal.
The incident occurred at Pilambiwada-Sodiem, Siolim, soon after water was released from the Tillari irrigation dam. Household items such as furniture was damaged and water overflowed on the road inconveniencing the people. The canal started overflowing at around 9 am on Thursday, causing the water to overflow and come on the road and further entered roadside houses. Locals were taken by surprise due to this sudden overflowing of the canal. The water was released in the canals yesterday after undertaking repair work for over a month.
Speaking to mediapersons, Siolim-Sodiem biodiversity management committee chairperson Peter D’Souza, said, “Water of Tillari Irrigation Project has been released without any application of mind by the authorities as a result of which water has entered many houses. Siolim-Sodiem Sarpanch Deepa Pednekar, Deputy Sarpanch Nilesh Vaigankar and panchayat secretary Akhil Mahelkar are doing spade work, but none of the workers from Tillari Irrigation Project are seen. Water has entered houses which has damaged compound walls. Half of the roads are submerged in water.”’
“’As a Bio-Diversity Management Committee chairperson, I have always been against the canal for destroying the field. Now it is destroying houses. We want this to stop. We demand that the government compensate the villagers for all the damages caused to them. A carpenter lost his furniture worth Rs 5 lakh. As of now, not a single official of the Water Resources Department (WRD) is here. Are we supposed to drown in the sins they have committed? This is the question we want to ask the WRD,” D’Souza said.
Another villager said that WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar had visited the place and conducted an inspection but it did not help. The water was released suddenly. Furniture of the showroom was destroyed. In spite of informing the WRD, water has not yet been stopped. Water entered three wards of the village panchayat. It has been five hours since WRD was informed about this incident, yet none of them have visited the area, he said.
“’It has been two hours since I made a call (to WRD) but nobody has turned up yet. We had told the department earlier also that there is no use of water in the canal,” said Sarpanch Deepa Pednekar.
“’Who is going to pay for my losses? I have lost so many machines out there. I have got a workshop there and most of the machines are down. What should I do?” asked Bernard Fernandes, a carpenter.
