GOA SWAYS … 'SMP' STYLE! By Valmiki Faleiro Remember SMP? Acronym of a Konknni expression about whistles and pubic hair, used here last week? If Goa’s last-lap colonial rule was ‘Salazar-shahi,’ this democratic era is ‘SMP-shahi.’ Ministers are not bothered about people. Officials care lesser about people. And people do not care about their own common good. SMP-shahi! Let’s view this SMP mindset from another perspective. Even if the story about water contamination in Margao, played up as Page One lead by the local edition of a national daily this Feb 27 was exaggerated, Margao doubtlessly sits on a ticking time bomb. A word on Margao. Down history, Margao was not just Salcete’s capital but Goa’s principal town. Salcete (including today’s Mormugao, bifurcated in Dec-1880) was the biggest taluka of the Old Conquests. Biggest in area, population, state revenues and foremost in political and cultural trends. “The most noble,” said ‘Oriente Conquistado.’ “Athens of Goa,” was how Portuguese surveyor Antonio Lopes Mendes described Margao in ‘A India Portuguesa.’ Margao is going to dogs. Despite Digambar Kamat – a Minister most of the time, and now the Chief Minister – representing it since 1994. At least some Margao residents unwittingly drink government-supplied water laced with mutants of human excreta (my words.) Let’s recap the newspaper report. A 1.5 litre sample of ‘potable’ tap water collected at Gogol-Margao was tested at the Goa State Pollution Control Board laboratory. Among the results: Coliform organisms – 540 (maximum permissible limit: 10.) Faecal coliform – 240 (max. limit: zero.) In 100 ml of water! These bacteria can cause fatal gastric and liver illnesses. Years ago, warnings were sounded that Selaulim water was contaminated with deadly Trihalomethanes (THMs), linked to cancer. Not that there are no quality controls. At least on paper, treated water is tested at various points, from the post-treatment at Selaulim to the point of local reservoirs, before it is pumped into distribution lines. Let us assume the Public Health Engineering (PHE) guys are doing their job pumping only safe water into distribution. But then, everybody knows that Margao’s sub-soil is saturated with raw sewage. How does one prevent soil contaminants from seeping into the porous distribution pipe joints? This appears to be at the heart of the problem. The age-old, under-capacity, ill-suited septic tank/soak pit system that has slowly but surely contaminated even ground water. The supreme irony is that crores have been – and are being – spent, since 1985/86, on Margao’s sewage system. Less than 10 percent households in the covered area have connected to the sewers – despite incentives, like almost free connections. I have an ancient, perennial, drinking water well in my compound. When a cluster of buildings rose in the adjoining property, I randomly tested its water over the last quarter century. E-coli and other bacteriological levels gradually increased. I am not suggesting that only Rohini Apts. was the cause, but despite being a Co-operative Housing Society, it has not connected to the sewage system. There won’t be a single uncontaminated water well in Margao, as I’ve said before. Who’s to blame? PHE guys, who work under Ministers? Who in turn are elected by us? The buck stops with us, the people. At least like those in Margao who have the sewage facility at their doorstep but have chosen not to connect. Officials indeed have already suggested that water supply to errant households be cut. There was ministerial inertia. Except in the current controversy over Digambar Kamat reportedly reversing water disconnections to some buildings at Colmorod. Granted, the area is not under the sewage network. But what prevented the buildings, now receiving the Chief Minister’s benign sympathies, from using night soil tankers to regularly empty their septic tanks – instead of diverting their raw sewage into municipal drains? When elected leaders are irresponsible, officials wouldn’t lag far behind. I blame neither. In today’s ‘Goa Meri Hai’, the all-pervasive mantra among elected men and bureaucrats belongs solely to us, the people. SMP! P.S.: Last week’s column on Candolim’s beached ‘River Princess’ evoked an interesting response from Mumbai-based friend, Nikhil Purov. Says he: "From dust you rise, in dust you settle - a full circle. The Princess was possibly made from iron smelted out of Goa's iron ore (dust). Like salmon, it could have come full circle to return to its shores of origin. ‘Rusting In Peace’ (RIP) I think could be a good epitaph.” (ENDS.) The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330 ====================================================================== The above article appeared in the March 29, 2009 edition of the Herald, Goa
