PONDA: Disclosing it is not possible to trace the source of Dudhsagar River pollution, the Water Resources Department on Tuesday asked the locals and complainant to show the location, from where the pollution is originating.
While the locals are complaining and claiming that the Dudhsagar River is polluted due to release of mining slurry, the WRD officials asked the upset locals to show the exact source and prove from where the muddy water is released into the river.
Environmentalist Sandeep Parkar, who had complained to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) and WRD about the OPA Khandepar River flowing muddy, said he got a strange reply from the WRD officials stating it’s not possible for them to trace the source of muddy water.
Unhappy over the WRD reply, Sandeep said, “The WRD is the custodian of water bodies and rivers. It is their responsibility to trace the source of pollution of river and water bodies and are accountable to stop pollution of water bodies.”
He said that the officials should take strict action and register an FIR against responsible parties.
“If the officials are facing difficulty to inspect the river basin they should use drone to trace the source of muddy water. The WRD can’t ask me to prove it, as it is their responsibility to prove it that my complaint over muddy water is false,” he claimed.
Sandeep said that he had also filed a complaint over the polluted water in 2019 but the source of pollution was not traced by the officials nor I got any report of the inspection.
Further, based on Sandeep’s complaint last month, the GSPCB officials had taken water samples from OPA River. However, he didn’t get the report.
“The site was inspected on September 6, 2022 by a team of WRD engineers. It was not possible to trace the location, from where the mining slurry is discharged into Khandepar River. It would be highly appreciated if you could produce evidence to prove disposal of mining slurry in the Khandepar River at Codli area and share the location,” stated the WRD reply to Parkar’s complaint.
