------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660 Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------- Preserving Goa's Ecology ---------------------------------- Around the same time last year there was a lot of heartburn in Goa when Karnataka had just threatened to build a dam on the upper reaches of the Mhadei to provide drinking water to its northern parts. However, this year it seems that the Mhadei as it flows down into the sea at Panaji is no longer important for the ecology of Goa.
Two projects undertaken by the present government are going to do great damage to the river. The first is the extension of the Ribandar-Patto bridge by filling up the river bed adjacent to the old Patto bridge. The impact of this on the water flow in the Mandovi, the siltation likely and the effect it would have on the mangrove and other vegetations apart from allowing free flow of the water coming to the river from the Chimbel channel is something that should have been studied.
The second equally disastrous project that the government has embarked upon is appropriating some 15 meters of the river bed area stretching from the new Patto Bridge in Panaji upto the Captain of Ports jetty, and maybe a little beyond.
Experts have commented that just dumping the debris of the old collapsed bridge in the river just before the Secretariat has resulted in major ecological changes due to the changes in the water flow and siltation patterns even as far upstream as Chorao and upto Divar island and also has clogged storm water drains discharging into the river in the Campal area. Therefore one can imagine what the 15-mt reclamation would do to the flow of the river and the ecological damage in the Mandovi estuary.
The other important thing is that the Mandovi is an important channel for barges carrying bulk iron ore which access needs to be ensured by adequate water flow in the river. The channel of the Mandovi already narrowing down by siltation will be further constricted by this latest reclamation ultimately leading to the river deteriorating into a canal.
For posterity by the middle of this century we can exhibit the Mandovi canal courtesy of the depredations of present humankind for the sake of converting Panaji into a 'European' city for the IFFI.
It is not clear as to why the river is being played around which would have helped carry bulk cargo. If the same was transported by road, it would have contributed to increased pollution, congestion, accidents rate nuisance to the people of Goa.
So it seems yet another case of misguided priorities wherein the analogy that comes to mind is that of a spoilt child breaking his toys and loudly announcing that no one can question him since the toys are rightfully his and he can do what he wants with them. May God help Goa!
S KAMAT, Porvorim in a letter to the Editor ----------------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 15/4/04 page 10 -----------------------------------------------
======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
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