Raising a stink over the pollution of River Sal, BJP Velim Mandal, led by BJP Spokesperson Savio Rodrigues, met with the Goa Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister, Subhash Shirodkar, and submitted a petition demanding that the existing Sewage Treatment Plant (STPs) be made operational and to make having an STP mandatory for houses in Salcete in order to stop the pollution of River Sal.
Revealing details of the discussion, Rodrigues said, “River Sal is an important water-body in Salcete and sadly, the issue of water-pollution continues unabated. The problem is that contamination is not arrested at source. Moreover, the existing STP is not sufficient, we need more STPs at the source of the pollution. More importantly, houses in the villages including some constructions do not have STPs, leading to sewage water being dumped in the river. We highlighted the issue of River Sal occurring from Velim”.
“Shirodkar assured the BJP Velim Mandal that the government is working to stem the pollution at River Sal. Different source points of the pollution have been identified and ways to deal with them have been formulated by the concerned department. Ensuring clean water is the mission of the government and the WRD Ministry has initiated its work to restrain the pollution at River Sal”, revealed Rodrigues.
The BJP Velim Mandal highlighted to the WRD Minister the problem of sewage in the areas of Bapsora and Rangalim. BJP Velim Mandal President, Saroj Motte, spoke about some houses leaving their sewage waste into River Sal in those villages in Velim because they do not have STPs at their home. He also urged the WRD minister to impress on the government to ensure that individual homes have STPs either individually or collectively in the villages close to the water bodies to stop the emptying of waste water into the river and government must have a scheme to encourage it.
Velim Mandal Office bearers appealed to the WRD Minister to visit the villages in Velim to understand the pollution concerns of the water bodies at the earliest, and Shirodkar is expected to visit Velim soon.
