The Accidental Activist - Water water everywhere!

By Venita Coelho


The Monsoon is finally over. It went out in spectacular style. I stood in the fields as thunder resounded and lightning fell with hair raising crackles. The rain was cold and wet, and I revelled in it, knowing that it was the last of our monsoon outbursts. Standing in that downpour, it was impossible to imagine that Goa could have a water problem. But indeed we do.

There are areas in Moira that get water for just one hour a day. The PWD supply has always been erratic. Everyone relies on their wells. But there's two kinds of bad news. First - the water table has been dropping steadily. As more and more constructions come up in the area, the builders pull up huge amounts through bore wells. The question is - who does the water belong to? Surely a community has first right over the water, and not commercial interests who don't care a damn if they cause long term damage as long as they make their buck. If a community has rights over its water, then it has the right to deny commercial usage of that water.

The Panchayat in Moira has wisely decided there will be no bore wells - but the water supply department hands out permissions for bore wells without bothering to check with the village. Builders and Panchayats find themselves in a stalemate. While builders assure the Panchayat that they will not touch the well, they secretly lower in pumps and help themselves to the water. And so a community resource dwindles until the community itself suffers.

The second really bad news - is that the wells in the ward of Povacao are polluted. In Goan villages we tend to have common ground water tables. That means all of our wells in Moira tap into the same water. If one well pollutes the water - not a single person can use that water any more. We've already seen that happen in Calangute and in Panjim and across Goa the same disaster is slowly unfolding. In this case this was a problem that had been forseen. Concerned citizens had repeatedly warned the Panchayat that the building project coming up in Povacao had sewage too close to the well. Neither did it have adequate sewage disposal for the number of people who would be residents. For the last three years, several residents have fought a frustrating battle trying to get officialdom to take them seriously. And now comes confirmation from well tests that the wells have indeed been polluted. The Health department has warned all those in the ward not to rely on the wells for drinking water.

Sadly, the culprits are not just builders putting together shoddy sewage infrastructure, it is the villagers as well. Sewage tanks are dug overnight, anywhere at all. A sewage chamber is built just mere feet from a public well. When neighbours protest, the culprits brother-in-law, who is a panch member, assures the Panchayat that the offending toilet will never be used. Of course it immediately is, with disastrous consequences. It is the petty cheating - the adding of a bathroom, the skimping on the size of a sewage chamber, that cost us so heavily in the long run. Yes, that new sewage chamber that you are having dug without bothering to check the distance from your well will one day lead to serious illness for your family. Worse still - you could actually be responsible for poisoning the water of your entire village.

The trouble with water is that they aren't making more if it. It is a finite resource. Moreover, we don't have access to all of it. 97.5% of it is saltwater. Of the fresh water resources, almost 70% are locked in glaciers. We have access mainly to the groundwater. And if that is polluted we are left with only the PWD water. And as Goa's water woes grow - that unreliable source is quite likely to dry up completely. No less than ten lakh children die a year because of bad quality and polluted water. 80% of all illnesses are due to bad water. That problem now sits on our doorstep in Moira. With one ward already polluted it will not be long before wells across Moira are unusable. As PWD water gets more unreliable, as water tables drop, as the only accessible water becomes polluted - we are heading for disaster.

It is the same old culprits every single time. Commercial interests that come into a village and proceed to build without any regard for village resources. Panchayats who don't take the problem seriously until it is too late, or, as in most cases, take their happy money to keep quiet. And villagers who don't think for the village but only for themselves.

The village community is an organic whole. We breathe the same air and we drink the same water. Clean air and water is our first right. No one person or commercial enterprise has the right to ruin our water and put all of us at risk. Unless individuals and Panchayats sit up to protect that right, we will be in bad shape in a few years, with water water everywhere - but not a drop to drink!     (ENDS)

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As appeared in The Herald, Goa - September 29, 2009

FOOTLOOSE: In protest mode

In protest mode
By Derek Almeida


Some time back former GCCI president Nitin Konkolienkar said that “protests” had become an industry in Goa. I never took him seriously until I bumped into my friend Ram Vilas. He was on his way to the Majestic Hotel with a placard which read, “Say no to casinos.”

“Arre bhai, when did you join the protest brigade?” I asked him.

“Derekji, good to see you,” he gushed, “I am now pucca Goan. I learning to protest just like you. You know, long time I am thinking to start new business …..”

“What happened to your tandoori chicken restaurant?” I asked.

“Wife is looking after restaurant, so, I thought I will start new business,” he explained. “First I am giving lots of thought. Then after having some pegs of feni, I am giving more though, but not like first time. Then I am getting some inspiration like tiny drops and suddenly my tube light is working, and I get idea to start NGO and launch protest. Hopefully, in two years I will get office in Panjim if I can make big nuisance for government.” Ram Vilas grinned while I stood there stunned over how this little man had progressed.

“If you are here and your wife is in the restaurant who looks after the children?” I asked with concern.

“Children growing by self Derekji, no tension,” he replied.

Ten day later I found Ram Vilas sipping a cup of tea in a hotel in Panjim along with few of his friends.

“Derekji, welcome we are planning to stage dharna in Old Goa against Baiguinim garbage site,” he said with enthusiasm.

“Arre Ram bhai, you live in Porvorim what is your objection to the Baiguinim site?”

Ram Vilas quickly introduced me to a ragged looking fellow with an overgrown beard and six rings on his fingers. “Derekji meet Pratap from Lucknow. He is top fellow in ideology.” Of course Ram pronounced it as ‘i-doll-g’ but I got the drift.

Pratap slurped tea from a saucer, gave me suspicious glance and then let loose a barrage in pure Hindi, which I could scarcely understand. The only word I took in was ‘Bainguinim’ which he threw in several times for effect. After he had finished he sat down and continued slurping tea as if nothing had happened.

“What did he say?” I asked Ram Vilas.
Ram Vilas did a left-right with his head and said, “Too fast for me, Derekji, but we are going Old Goa to click good photo for Press.”

About a month later I spotted Ram Vilas in a morcha, which was working its way towards the Secretariat. He was panting and gasping as the protestors struggled up the slope after the Mandovi bridge. Ram Vilas looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

“What now?” I asked pulling him aside. It took quite a few minutes for him to catch his breath.

“We …..we …….we want protection for fishermen on beaches,” he said.

“Why are you taking up the cause of fishermen. There are others to do it,” I shouted at him. “You could get a heart attack climbing this slope.”

“This is my new profession, Derekji,” he explained. “If I don’t protest and get picture in newspaper people who give money will ask many questions. Important point is to be there when Press people click photo. Later I make nice book of all photos and newspaper cutting and claim ‘social worker’ status.”

It did not take me long to realize that Ram Vilas was ahead of me in the protest business. He had spotted an opportunity and worked on it. This small chap from Bihar was an entrepreneur in his own right.

Anyway, a month later I spotted Ram Vilas all alone at Miramar beach. He looked sad and forlorn.

“Arre bhai what is your problem? Why the long face?” I asked and squatted next to him.

“Derekji, all issues exhausted,” he explained. “I am thinking of new plan, but tube light fused yaar.”

“What about River Princess?” I said.

“We did protest march on Candolim beach Derekji, he said, “but all protesters took off clothes and went for swim. General secretary Jagdish drowned.”

“It might be worthwhile to protest against mega projects,” I said.

“That also done,” he said sadly.

What about pay parking?” His eyes lit up.

“This is big idea,” exclaimed, “We can start new NGO with new name …….Pay Parking Hatao Munch.” He though for a while and said, “No ‘Munch’ is not nice word. Everybody thinking we are chocolatewallas.”

“What about Samiti or Abhiyan?” I asked. This went on for a while until Ram Vilas settled on Abhiyan. Then with the air of a creative artist he said, “We will demand that government sack commissioner and Mayor …..”

“That’s impossible. The government will not do that,” I explained.

“Derekji,” he said in a hushed tone, “secret of success in protest industry is, make impossible demand because if government accepts demand protest get finished in two days and Ram Vilas become ‘bekhar’ again…….”

With that he stood up and walked away, perhaps to discuss the matter with his tea slurping ‘i-doll-g’ guide.

(ENDS)

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First published in the Gomantak Times (Weekender), Goa - September 6, 2009