WRD orders halt to desilting of Colva creek

MARGAO, APRIL 9
Caught on the wrong foot, the Water Resources department has ordered an immediate halt to the desilting work of the contaminated Colva creek after the contractor tried to empty the waters into the sea.
Water Resources senior officer Powar told Herald on Friday that the department had floated a tender for desilting of the Colva creek as it was found polluting by waste waters.
After locals cried foul over attempt made by the contractor to link the creek to the sea at Colva beach, the Water Resources official said the linking of the creek to the sea was not part of the desilting contract.
“The department has asked the contractor to forthwith stop the work. The work will commence only after the modalities are worked out how to tackle the waste water stagnated in the creek”, he said.
Colva police station incharge, PI Tushar Vernekar said the two persons who were picked up for interrogation were let off after the Water Resources department claimed responsibility for carrying out the work.
Local residents, however, suspected a cover up operation, saying that the police and Goa Pollution Control Board should conduct a detailed probe into the entire episode.
Local activist Judith Almeida, who had alerted the Colva police over the trench dug on the beach last evening, said the authorities should first ascertain the origin of the heavy waste into the creek. “Who has released such heavy waste needs to be found out by the authorities”, she said, adding that the Goa Pollution Contol Board should take serious note of the trench built by the contractor on the beach ostensibly to drain out the stagnated creek waters into the sea.
The Colva creek had been in the news in recent times over the acute contamination following rampant discharge of kitchen and sewage waters by the establishments.