http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=022421
Shortage of water: Mapusa residents up in arms against PWD officials NT News Service Mapusa Feb 23: The residents of the Mapusa police quarters (B block) are up in arms against the public works department (PWD), due to whose negligence their building has not got water supply for the last two years, they say. As if to rub salt into their wounds, PWD has today broken down the bathroom of two flats and the toilet of one, the repair work of which will take at least one week. "We have not been getting water for the last two years. Some of us fill our buckets at the tap near the police station and then climb two floors up to our flats. But the water bill comes very regularly," said Mr Louis D'Souza, a resident of flat B3. There are six flats in the building that includes the barracks for the lady-police, the Mapusa police inspector and four families. The lack of water apart, the condition of the building is pitiable. A family on the first floor showed this reporter the cracks in the walls, the large chunks of concrete that have fallen off from the ceiling, the broken condition of the bathroom doors and so on. "The police is supposed to be a disciplined force. So they expect us to suffer in silence and not to complain. The last six months have been really disgusting," said another resident. While some residents say they have given at least 100 oral complaints about the lack of water, others have registered their complaints in the complaints register. "They remove bypass line from here and they remove bypass line from there. Now they want to dismantle everything. They have said it will take at least 15 days now. Where shall we have bath for the next 15 days?" asked another resident. But the residents are unanimous in blaming the PWD (buildings) for their water woes and not the water supply department. They say that the other police building, which was built 10 years earlier, has no problem whatsoever. They allege that the PWD buildings used poor quality material for their block. When contacted, the junior engineer PWD (buildings), Mr Robert D'Souza confirmed the plight of the residents. "The building is in a very bad shape. There are papaya trees growing between the floors along the sewage lines. The problem is that the water pipes are concealed. But we have undertaken the repairs; it's a major work and all problems should be solved," Mr D'Souza said. He also said that the repairs of the bathroom will not take 15 days but only seven days. "Till that time, the PWD has made alternate arrangements for the affected residents on the ground floor," Mr D'Souza said. -- TUMCHER AXIRVAD ASSUM; DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England
