SCM slams govt over attempts to camouflage substandard works

Goemkarponn desk
MARGAO: Shadow Council for Margao Convener Savio Coutinho slammed the PWD and the government over their attempts to camouflage the substandard works executed in laying of sewerage network line’s in Margao.
Coutinho along with local residents from Colmorod stopped the laying of a pipeline to connect an overflowing sewage chamber to the roadside drain.
It may be noted that there exists a sewerage network chamber near the Gomati building at Colmorod which perennially overflows during monsoons due to the reverse flow of raw sewage. This issue has been consistently brought to the notice of the sewerage department but in vain.
Coutinho informed that a few days ago Margao MLA Digamber Kamat had visited the site and suggested that the chamber be connected to the roadside drain.
Accordingly today some workers started digging a trench to lay the pipeline. Residents from the Gomati building immediately brought the matter to the notice of SCM Convener Savio Coutinho who rushed to the site stopped the work and got the trench filled up back. When the sewerage department engineers were contacted they said that PWD Div was laying the pipeline and that they had no role to play.
Speaking to the media Coutinho said that it is very shocking to see the manner in which the department is functioning, given the fact that a Petition is before the Hon’ble High Court over the pollution of Saipem lake.
While the Hon’ble High Court is struggling to put things in order by ordering the connection of residential and commercial premises to the sewerage network in order to stop the raw sewage from flowing into the drains; the department was found doing just the opposite.
Coutinho charged that the substandard works executed through the infamous JICA contract are now raising their ugly head as a public nuisance.
Local residents Clement Dsouza and Johnny Monteiro demanded that the government should find a permanent solution to the problem of overflowing sewage chambers and not resort to shortcut methods of releasing sewage into the drains.
They complained that the sewage overflows into the nearby field and gets stagnated thereby becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes. With the rise in cases of dengue and malaria, we are all scared and concerned about this situation the residents said while demanding an immediate solution.