Fifth day without water in Panaji, CM says wait till Tuesday

TNN / Updated: Aug 19, 2019, 09:58 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

For the fourth consecutive day, the state capital of Panaji continued to reel under water crisis with people even collecting rainwater to meet their needs, while many missed their Sunday Mass.

Fifth day without water in Panaji, CM says wait till Tuesday

Residents of Mala-Fontainhas area fill water from the Fonte Phoenix using a pump, provided by a local corporator with her own funds

PANAJI: For the fourth consecutive day, the state capital of Panaji continued to reel under water crisis with people even collecting rainwater to meet their needs, while many missed their Sunday Mass.
“We could not take a bath for two days. We have a private well which is contaminated, and we are using that water to flush our toilets,” said Arturo D’Souza, a resident of St Cruz, whose family couldn’t attend the church services on Sunday.

TimesView

In the past fortnight, Goa has seen two unprecedented crisis—floods and water shortage. In both cases, the government has been caught napping. Hiding behind a raft of excuses and blaming officials for the government’s failure shows its inefficiency. Chief minister Pramod Sawant has been proactive when it comes to politicking or even willing to sit and listen for hours to members of the assembly eulogising him for getting a nondescript award. But only if he had shown the same level of alertness and patience in sorting out the issues plaguing Goans, today those flood-hit villagers and people of Tiswadi taluka, which includes the state capital of Panaji, wouldn’t have been left fending for themselves. During floods and water shortage, it was sheer callousness and government apathy that turned it into a crisis. By paying a visit to the affected areas, Sawant isn’t doing any service to the people. His and the government’s responsibility is in coming up with solutions. By not doing so, Sawant and his team of ministers are showing their incompetence and lack of vision in tackling civic issues. What is scary is that this government, which has got a brute majority more by defections than by winning the elections, doesn’t even have an opposition. The immediate task before the government is to at least make temporary arrangements to ensure that people get enough water to fulfil their basic needs and not to give fresh deadlines every day. A reactive government can never win people’s confidence and if Sawant is serious about winning people’s trust, he must act swiftly.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant did not provide any solutions to ease the water woes and said the supply from Opa will resume on Tuesday.

Earlier, the government had promised to resume water supply latest by Monday afternoon. Residents were completely dependent on tankers and packaged drinking water, while some people used the neighbhourhood wells and springs for their requirements.
Residents said this is one of the worst water crisis to have hit Panaji. “The government should have set up a special squad to deal with the crisis. No officers or PWD engineers are available,” Panaji mayor Uday Madkaikar said.
People blamed the government for mismanagement. “It will be a week without water for us,” said advocate Avinash Bhonsale, a resident of Mala.

End of Article