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---------------------------------------------- Workshop on water, sanitation held ---------------------------------------------- A workshop on the 'Water and sanitation sector in Goa' today concluded that "no matter how much money is pumped into the augmentation of the state water supply system, there will be no improvement in the system unless and until, the management and institutional structure change."
The workshop also observed that though funds amounting to Rs 90 crore have been spend during the last decade for constructing 67,601 toilets in the state by way of government subsidies, these facilities were hardly used and there is a need to change the 'behaviour and mind-set' of the people to take benefits of such sanitation related facilities.
The secretary for public works department, Ms Debashree Mukherjee, delivering the key note address on the theme, 'Water and sanitation in Goa circa 2005: What does the future hold?' said that there are management, health as well as water and sanitation issues which are beyond immediate remedies and require long-term strategies.
"The testing of wells in the urban areas showed that large proportion of wells have been contaminated," she informed at the workshop, which was organised by the public works department in the city.
There was no comprehensive water and sanitation scheme for the state, but the Swajal Dhara scheme of the central government gave us the opportunity which asked the department to carry out the analysis of water and sanitation scenario in Goa and then sign a related memorandum of understanding with the central government, Ms Mukherjee said.
The central government also pointed at the water and sanitation programme (WSP), South Asia for obtaining the technical assistance in these areas, she noted.Though hard to achieve, PWD is focussing on 24-hour water supply within next three years, she said.
Mr R S Ramasubramaniam of Feedback Ventures, a consultancy firm employed by the state government to carry out 'Sector status study - water and sanitation, Goa' vis-a-vis public health engineering (PHE) wing of the PWD, in his presentation said that the other states face the problem of quantity of water, however in Goa, the predominant concern based on primary studies points out that the hours of water supply is the main concern. He also observed that the state needs to focus on high revenue category like commercial and industrial sector as far as supply of water is concerned.
Ms Soma Ghosh Moulik and Mr Mark Elleryof WSP-SA also spoke on the occasion.
The workshop also had other presentations on 'Introduction to institutional reform principles', 'Role separation', 'Decentralisation', 'Strengthening community voice' and 'Regulation'. --------------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 9/04/05 page 3 ---------------------------------------------
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