MARGAO: The Goa chapter of the economy and environment Think Tank – Centre for Promoting Indian Economy (CPIE India), in a statement released on Thursday, likened the river Sal – often called the lifeline of Salcete – to a gutter, drain or nullah, which can no longer be called or termed as a river in most places where it flows. According to Prof. Sushant Joshi of the CPIE India, whose team surveyed the river last month, the so-called river is beyond redemption. “We have lost the river and it is just a large gutter or nullah,” Prof. Joshi wrote in the report titled “Pollution of River Sal in South Goa”,

According to social activist and Lion Ularico Rodrigues of Vasco, who has been involved with environmental issues in South Goa, the River Sal is almost dead and polluted throughout its course. “Raw, untreated sewage flows unhindered into the river at various points. Farmers in Seraulim are up in arms as sewage water from the river enters their fields, permanently polluting the soil and damaging their crops,” Ularico said.

Marine and aquatic life in the river has perished and even the percentage of micro plastics, presence of fecal coliform bacteria and other pollutants are nearly four to five times of those as compared to March 2020, during the Covid lock down period, Ularico pointed out. His concerns were echoed by the CPIE India report on Thursday, which collaborated with the concerns mentioned by him.

“The devastation of river Sal is man-made due to improper or mismanagement by various statutory and government bodies like the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), the Water Resources Department (WRD), Panchayats of villages along the course of the river and the Government of Goa at large. We have destroyed river Sal and if we do not act aggressively in the next few months, this water body will be lost to Goans forever,” Ularico opined.

On the orders of the High Court, an inspection of the river was carried out by various agencies. At several places, including near the Kudchadkar hospital, raw, untreated sewage was found flowing into the nullah, which eventually connects to the main water body. The nullah in close vicinity of the sewage treatment plant (STP) was also seen filled with sewage water, and plastic and other non-degradable bio-waste floating in it.

Two Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Shirvodem are non functional in spite of several reminders by locals and the gutters next to STPs are full of rotting sewage and plastic and other waste, which are seeping into the water table in the surrounding area.

According to Ularico, the river Sal is polluted to such an extent that wells in the vicinity are also going to be affected. “The quality of water in wells in the localities where the river Sal flows has fallen drastically. About two decades earlier, the water in the wells was potable and could be safely consumed by humans. Today, even animals and cattle are at risk as the level of pollutants and other chemical waste is so high that it could cause serious disease or illness in animals who consume the polluted water,” Ularico claimed.

PANAJI: Without being solely dependent on tourism, if Goa wants to generate employment opportunities for its youth and become a logistics hub in the western zone, it must make a serious move on a war footing to fully exploit its rivers and waterways for goods and cargo transport.

So far, besides passenger transport, the waterways and rivers in Goa were used for iron ore transportation by barges from the mining belt, but with the halt to mining in the State, several barges are lying un-utilized.

Passenger transport via ferries and boats as well as tourism-related boating activity is a mere 7 percent of the overall scope of Goan waterways, claims the Centre for Promoting Indian Economy (CPIE India) in its white paper on “Transportation Issues Plaguing Goa”.

Goa has an advanced, technically competent, local shipbuilding expertise, which has been in existence for centuries, even before the Portuguese landed in the State.

Utilizing the expertise of the local shipbuilding and engineering sector, Goa must go ballistic on using its rivers for goods transport, finding ways and means to use the unused mining barges (with a few modifications) for goods transportation.

This will give a boost to the ancillary manufacturing and services sector that can generate at least a 500 more jobs each year for semi-skilled workers in the State, says CPIE India.

One Goan MLA recently raised eyebrows when he spoke about drone taxis for transportation, but instead of thinking so far, the State must utilize its idle iron ore barges making them operational for logistics and cargo transport.

According to experts, the North-South arterial road network as well as the highways in Goa have reached a saturation point and given the fact that the number of vehicles moving on the roads in Goa is expected to grow by an astounding pace of 120 per cent in the next few years, waterways and river transportation is the only hope for Goa.

Waterway transportation is not just cleaner, greener and cost-effective, it is value for money and can give the logistics sector in Goa a tremendous boost, opines Infrastructure Analyst Ramakant Shinde who heads a Broking Firm in Mumbai.

In terms of logistics and goods transportation, Goa is among the last 4 States in India – according to the 2021 LEADS survey (Logistics Ease Across Different States), which is a crying shame, given the fact that in the Standard of Living index, Goa ranks among the top 3 Indian states.

While other States are concentrating on the planning and implementation of the National Logistics Policy (NLP), Goa lags terribly behind even in basic logistics infrastructure, mostly due to local objections by activists and environmentalists.

When one talks about unemployment in Goa, Goans are to blame. Resistance to change and development is Goa’s Achilles heel that must be tackled with an iron fist on a war footing.

With Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant enjoying a comfortable majority, the government must not hesitate to move forward in developing Goa into a logistics hub, implementing the NLP and fully utilizing the natural resources in terms of waterways and rivers for cargo and logistics.

MUMBAI: Many households in the slum pockets of Mumbai at Malwani, Ganesh Nagar and Kandivali West resort to traditional medicines, folklore, black magic and everything else to treat measles, instead of vaccination, professional doctor’s advice and allopathic medicines.

Others prefer hanging neem leaves at the doors of their slums and believe it will protect his children. Still others believe that Shitala Mata, a form of Durga Mataa – a goddess who carries holy water and a broom can cure the otherwise very contagious disease. Some even consider the disease as a blessing from the goddess.

According to some old belief rampant both in cities and villages, measles is caused by the anger of Sitala Mata. Superstitious people claim that when a child is infected with measles, it is actually the goddess herself within the victims.

Some elders suggest that the infection should not be treated by any medication or vaccine as it is believed that the goddess will leave the body in 6-10 days on her own.

It is also said that Sitala Mata is among the seven sisters who live in the neem tree. They are known for bringing epidemic diseases. And this is why shrines to Sitala Mata are found near neem trees.

Neem is also known for eradicating chicken pox and measles according to traditional belief and folklore.

According to a survey conducted by the Raksha Hospital Research Forum (RHRF), a unit of the Raksha Multispecialty Hospital (RMH) in suburban Malad, slum pockets in heavily congested slum localities like Malwani, Ganesh Nagar and Kandivali West in the western suburbs are sitting on a measles bomb, with 3-4 kids per shanty in most cases and superstitious beliefs predominant among the dwellers.

Slum dwellers in these hotbeds for the very contagious Measles virus which is fast spreading in Mumbai believe in superstition and folklore and avoid medicines and vaccination preferring to abide by traditional beliefs.

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)confirming an outbreak of Measles in various slum pockets of Mumbai and neighbouring areas, experts at the Raksha Hospital Research Forum presently expect more than 100 to 130 cases of the Measles in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in the next few days.

Dr Pranav Kabra MD and Managing Director of the RMH who heads the RHRF said that their estimates suggest more than 100 to 130 cases.

“As schools have reopened and kids have started going to school there is great possibility of the disease spreading,” Dr Kabra suggests.

The BMC must concentrate on pockets like Malwani, Govandi, Dharavi, Ganesh Nagar (Kandivali) and other slum pockets where the population density is very high and several children could be living in a single shanty, Dr Kabra said, adding that even street kids could be possibly infected with the Measles virus.

“In the recent outbreak, since about 50 per cent of the infected kids also include those who have been vaccinated earlier, vaccination alone is not enough to prevent infection and parents should be extra careful about the situation,” Dr Kabra opined.