(Letter to Editor, Herald 17March) I feel it is unfair of the residents near Bhale's hospital at Porvorim to accuse the attendants at the water tank for the prevailing water crisis in Porvorim (Herald, 11th March). These boys are very much from our village, and our problem is also their problem. I have been visiting the water reservoir near JMJ Hospital to register my complaint almost every alternate day for the last two months. I never found these young men drunk on duty. Public relations is not their job. Instead, on several occassions I have found them stressed out and depressed from the late nights they have to keep up and the unnecessary abuses from the public. No one bothers to monitor the quantum of water received at the reservoir neither do they hold the PWD Engineeers and Panchayat representatives responsible for this mess. In the last two years, over 200 construction permissions have been issued by the Village Panchayat of Socorro. Neither has the Zilla representative bothered to address this issue. On 29th October 2009 a special water pipe-line was laid to a mega project under police protection. From where will the water be supplied to around 40 mega projects which are in pipe-line in Socorro village alone? The affluent people in Porvorim are equally responsible for this water crisis as they hardly bother to exercise their fundamental duties. They should have the courage to confront those who are actually responsible for the development policies and not the helpless attendant at the end of the administrative chain. Let us dare to ask the questions at the Gram Sabha, to the State Legislative representatives and to the executive officers.
-Soter D'Souza Socorro
