Department engineers, councillors switch off mobile phones; tankers in high demand
the goan I network
MAPUSA
It’s back to square one, as parts of Bardez have been facing a water crisis of sorts.
Mapusa is once again facing severe water shortage. Several areas in the city have not received a drop of water for the last almost 10 days keeping the residents on edge.
With no solution in sight, most people have to depend on tankers for supply of their quota of water.
Although most areas have been affected due to the water scarcity, the worse affected areas are Khorlim, which is a stronghold of BJP and Angod, a ward represented by the Mapusa Chairperson.
Besides other areas in the city such as Ansabhatt, Dattawadi, Dangui Colony and Housing Board have also been facing severe water scarcity.
“With not a drop of water for the last eight days we have been depending on tankers for the supply. The ward councilor who is affiliated to the BJP appears to be helpless. Our government is in power yet there is no one who we can turn to in our hour of need,” lamented a BJP karyakarta from Gateshwarnagar, Khorlim.
Agitated residents have been making calls to the PWD Mapusa office and the local councilors but to no avail.
Several residents have told The Goan that department engineers and some councilors have now put off their mobile phones.
Councilor, Tushar Tople said he was baffled at the patience shown by the public despite facing severe water problem in the city.
“Can you believe it? People in my ward in Ansabhat have not received a drop of water for the last 10 days but no one is ready to come out and express their anger against the administration,” Tople said.
“A BJP government is in place, a BJP MLA is representing the constituency and a BJP-backed council is ruling the city, but yet no one is able to find a solution to the water crisis,” he added.
Anguished over the constant water issues, councilor Sanjay Mishal said he has been getting calls from
residents in his ward due to erratic water supply.
PWD Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar admitted there was drop in water supply to Bardez due to shortage of supply of raw water at Assonora treatment plant.
“Since normal supply from Tillari has been stopped due to maintenance work of the canal, Assonora treatment plant has been drawing water from Amtanem dam, which is insufficient. Normal supply is expected to be restored by December 10 as water from Tillari is expected to be released by then,” Parsekar said.
However, a senior PWD engineer blamed the irrigation department for failing to provide adequate raw water to the treatment plant.
“The only solution to the problem is to pump raw water from Sal River and recoup the level in Amthanem dam,” the senior engineer informed.
He said supply of raw water from Tillari has been completely stopped due to some major maintenance work taken up from the Maharashtra side and was expected to take some time until it is restored.
The Assonora water treatment plant gets bulk of its raw water from Tillari water canal.
