PANJIM DRAINS BY Stephen Dias, Dona Paula Retd Scientist- A1 Instrumentation and Social Activist 12TH MARCH 2021
The CCP always claims that they have done all required pre monsoon work on all the drains and that avoiding flooding and water logging in Panjim takes top priority. However year after year they are proved wrong when the water accumulating on roads and overflowing storm gutters are visible proof of either lack of action or incompetence. Of course pedestrians are the most affected. Forget floods, even a light rain is a disaster for them. Vehicles, especially buses, while travelling on water-logged Miramar and Campal roads, splash pedestrians and two wheeler drivers without mercy. Two wheelers face bigger problem - we find them zig zagging to avoid water splashing, often resulting in accidents and even sometimes casualties. The colossal environmental degradation in goa has been witnessing over the years by way of rampant destruction of hills, fragmentation of pristine landscapes through ruthless chopping of trees and by not even sparing the lower lying fields by pouring concrete in them, shows the impact of criminal interference in Goa's age old natural ecosystem. Of course do not forget the Casinos which have obstructed the natural movement of the river and sand and are causing major displacement of water and flow. Nature's fury cannot be averted as the rain usually plays havoc with the administration's poor attempts to prepare. This time also the city MLA Babush Monserratte has given solemn assurances to the citizens of Panjim assuring them that this time panjim will not face water logging as he has taken a drive to clean all the gutters specially in Campal and Miramar. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. The traditional drainage system, water ways, and outlets for natural flow of rainwater are choked all over with no functional drainage system well-maintained by the authorities of the corporation of the city of Panjim. We residents of Panjim have witnessed how the capacitance Goan communities built over centuries with time-tested strategies designed to prevent flooding, is now getting deteriorated every year. I remember the planning of drainage outlets during my younger days because of which we had no major flooding in the streets of Panjim. Of course credit is also due to the efficient maintenance by the Portugese authorities. I remember where some major storm drain inlets were located. One was near Umesh Keni Petrol pump in Portais, another was at Ninho Infantil, Fontainhas, Custom house, Miramar, near Panjim market, Campal, Aivao market and others.These storm water drains were periodically cleaned and there was no blockage at all which made for safe travelling on roads. But now, all these drains are not only blocked but the documentation existing in the CCP and PWD has gone for a toss and nobody knows if the records are available or not. This year the deterioration has reached a new peak since the roads are full of potholes and chambers that are not well aligned, not even level, by the PWD. The tender does not specify such aspects for the contractor to execute the work and mostly supervision is not adequate or missing. The drain covers/slabs are also not well designed and all over Panjim we see a number of different types of covers of different sizes and thicknesses. They are not uniform. The CCP and PWD workers cannot lift these drain enclosures as they are heavy and no lifting vehicles/gadgets have been given to them. Their backbones can be injured if they continue to accept such heavy loads. A new concept should be introduced - uniform design for efficiency in terms of replacement and cost, strong enough to last, less weight and less thickness to be easily handled. I recently saw a close-to-ideal design in use by the CCP. See photo attached. Some improvement in terms of weight and thickness would be preferable. One benefit is that tourists or other anti-social elements cannot put bottles and other garbage into the drains with such covers. The CCP carries out pre-monsoon work by trial and error method and is hampered partially also because of the construction that has come up all over the city. Taking this into consideration the drains needed to be cleared much before the monsoon starts. The problem lies with the government as the funds are always approved at the last moment. Hence the jobs entrusted to the contractor are delayed. I cannot bame the contractors or charge them with not trying. I recently saw them attempting to clean a gutter in Panjim market. The fleet of workers and engineers struggled to remove the sand and mud from the gutter and load it into a truck. When questioned by me they said nothing can be done in terms of prevention because sand keeps on entering from the Mandovi shore side with the pressure of waves, thus getting the drain choked again and again. I asked whether the complete drain was cleared up to the beach. They said the asphalted road cannot be touched or cut. These roads would need to be cut to access these drains. I asked one supervisor over there whether it is possible to have a solid pipeline going further out into the river ending further out where there is less likelihood of sand being forced into the pipe however they had no response.. I remember such an exercise of laying such a drainage pipeline at Zuari Agro Chemicals more than 40 years back. We in NIO had done a survey for them and the pipeline was installed. From that time no such complaints were received from the locals. Also I remember seabed surveys by NIO Senior Scientists (Geological and Geophysical) Dr. M. Veerayya and Faustinho Almeida along with our Instrumentation team at various places in India including at a prominent place in Karwar (Sea Bird Project) where there was much sand accumulation. This was more than 25 years back. This is all to say that there is, and has been, expertise available that would help ameliorate the problem perhaps. But someone in the administration should reach out to organisations with the expertise and see what can be done. Nowadays there must be even more advanced techniques available. If we cannot use the gift of the past and maintain our system that was in existence, at the very least we have to work towards using the best of modern methods and technolgies. In Nagpur, in the first of its kind natural drain cleaning treatment using in-situ process, our National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR - NEERI) attempted a unique cleaning treatment process with the help of a combination of technologies which will give impetus to all kinds of drain treatments including the clearing of big and small nullahs. The institute has put the technology on display by treating over 200 mtrs of drain on its diamond jubilee foundation celebration at its headquarters. Goan authorities could discuss use and set up of this technology in Goa with NEERI in order to clean not only drains, but nullahs and creaks (like St Inez) to get a cleaner look for our city, prevent flooding, provide hygienic surroundings, and abate the menace of mosquito breeding. Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR–CEERI) has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Punjab government for providing technical support of the same process of reviving the 2.2 km long Tung Dhab drain in Amritsar. This drain has been highly polluted for several years. I also heard that NEERI is providing technical support for cleaning Vada canal, Commercial canal and other canals in Alappuzha in Kerala. The institute also plans to revive drains in Mumbai and some other cities. I think they said no chemical treatment is needed, making it very cost effective and environmentally friendly. NEERI has further expanded their technology taking it from their labs and scaling it up in the real world because the industries could not easily adopt ideas from laboratories. It is in the hands of our government to reach out to such experts to put better measures in place. Our nature is kicking back as most scientists say. If those in power do not take urgent corrective, well planned and sustainable measures to prevent flooding we are all sunk. (Enclosed 2 photos) STEPHEN DIAS