Inspection of sluice gates at Neura exposes broken infra

Panaji: An inspection to detect the cause of the vast Neura khazan flooding for several months brought officials and others face to face with reality — the protective mechanisms of sluice gates in their dilapidated condition are the cause of it.At most of the seven-odd sluice gates, the visiting team saw broken doors, some about to fall, breaches to internal bundhs and weak concrete structures. The water was flowing through freely from the Zuari or its tributaries into the fields to the village school and panchayat building — both actually built on khazan land years ago — along the Pilar-Old Goa road.The inspection by Tiswadi mamlatdar K B Desai, along with his team of officials and those from agriculture department’s soil conservation division followed strong demand at a recent Neura gram sabha.The team also included St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar, Neura O Grande Tenants Association (NoGTA) chairman Jayant Shirodkar and Khazan Action Committee (KAC) convener Ramrao Wagh.At the Edfalin sluice gate on the Neura-Agassaim border, the team was surprised by the unregulated flow of river water. The lessee granted the fishing rights by NoGTA conceded that the flow may be inundating the fields, but said that he was not being permitted to repair the sluice gate.

As the lid on the actual state of affairs was blown off, the lessees turned to blaming each other for the massive flooding.“If my sluice gate is repaired, then surely it will be known that mine alone is not responsible for the problem,” he said.Flooding was also noticed due to the porous condition of doors of Shilpa and Nedde sluice gates.“Most of the sluice gates need the doors to be replaced or structures to be strengthened,” Wagh said.Borkar told the officials to take up repairs while the mamlatdar directed the NoGTA chairman to put up proposals for it.Neura agricultural area in the vast khazan from Agasaim to Corlim was once a granary of rice, vegetables and other agricultural produce. Allegations have been rife that lessess have been deliberately flooding the fields for pisciculture, though other factors are also responsible for the decline in agriculture in one of Goa's biggest khazan.