Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: It is said that human memory is short, same holds good as far as the great monster of a flood that wreaked havoc in Canacona from the hills to the shore of the Arabian sea on 2nd October 2009 destroying everything that came in its path.
So short is everybody’s memory that the recommendations suggested by a group of scientists from National Institute of Oceanography have now got permanently locked in the cupboards and the hard drives of their computer’s as Canacona awaits replay of a similar devastation in near future locals say.
The committee entrusted with the task of finding what caused the floods and what steps to be taken for such events not to occur or if they occur to minimize their impacts on the environment of which humans are also a part of.
After an extensive study of Galgibagha and Talpona river systems and their surrounding where maximum destruction had occurred, the committee made one general and four specific recommendations.
The general recommendation was that well-known practices in forest management for preventing mudslides (afforestation of mountain slopes, for example) and in river management (such as de-silting of river beds) should receive emphasis and increased investment.
These measures would be able to minimise damage from rainfall events of lesser intensity.
The specific recommendations were the areas vulnerable to mudslides should be mapped and site-specific disaster management plan to face them should be in place at each location with high vulnerability.
Areas with high vulnerability to flooding due to an intense precipitation event should be identified and a disaster management plan should be evolved at locations that are particularly vulnerable.
A mechanism for keeping a careful watch should be in place whenever a situation arises with high potential for an intense precipitation event in a vulnerable area.
The Meteorological Centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Panaji should form the nerve centre of such a watch.
The State of Goa should make IMD’s “Cyclone Warning Dissemination System” operational in the state.
Locals feel that the above recommendations are shelved and will be forgotten till the day another flash floods strike their taluka.
Rajesh Gaonkar a former sarpanch of Khotigao village speaking to Goenkarponn informed that the debris which had come from the hills and had got deposited in the river bed at Khotigao have been removed, so also retaining walls are built at some places on the river bank post 2009.
Sunil Paigankar a social worker from Poinguinim informed that the government is building a shelter in Mahalwada in Poiguinim and the work will be finished soon.
“The shelter has eight rooms with attached bathrooms and a kitchen facility, incase of evacuation the affected families can be accommodated in this shelter” Paigankar informed.
However Manoj Prabhugaonkar a activist from the taluka feels that even after twelve years the shelter is incomplete, it’s too little too late he said.
Apart from these nothing has been done on the recommendations made by the expert committee of the NIO.
The hills on the west side of the taluka which are part of the western Ghats are as fragile as before and susceptible to hill slides to the smallest provocation incase of higher precipitation
experts feel.
The lower reaches of both the rivers where tons and tons of debris has got deposited on the river bed is still as it is and restricts the flow of monsoon water partially if not fully.
Also as many houses close to these two rivers were inundated with water, locals had demanded housing plots at the Kulty plateau, nothing has been done so far informed Diogo Da’ Silva a social activist.
There is absolutely no warning system in place as the local Disaster Management Committee has long forgotten that the taluka was struck with the flash floods causing losses to the tune of 300 crores and it seems that they will wake up only when there is a replay of the floods that send shivers to the affected whenever they remember which otherwise have been forgotten just like a bad dream of the day.
