Panaji's water woes to continue till August 20, says CM Pramod Sawant

Goa CM Pramod Sawant with Union Minister Smriti Irani. Pic/Twitter IANS

On Monday, Goa Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant said that the water woes in Panaji will continue till Tuesday. Goa's capital Panaji has been facing water issues since the last 72 hours. While addressing the media, Sawant said that the ongoing work of restoration of the potable water pipeline, which was washed away due to excessive rains on Friday, is being undertaken on a war footing.

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Sawant said that although the government had said that the work will be completed by Monday but it will take a day more. Residents in and around Panaji have been hit by water scarcity since early Saturday, after a landslide washed away two key pipelines from the Opa reservoir in Ponda sub-district which supplies water to North Goa, including Panaji.

The landslide which was caused due to the continuous downpour took place on Friday. Goa's Public Works Department Minister Deepak Pauskar has blamed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the pipeline breakage. Pauskar said that the NHAI have not been careful while undertaking highway widening works along the national highway to Belgavi (in Karnataka).

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He said that the excessive dumping of mud on the retaining wall could have led to its collapse and eventually led to the breakage of the water pipeline. In order to deal with the crisis, the Goa Government has arranged water by supplying tankers for the residents of Panaji and other affected areas to tide over the current crisis.

With inputs from IANS

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