Panaji: Acting on a TOI report highlighting the water woes of Arpora residents, the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) on Friday recommended that the department of drinking water be designated the sole agency to receive complaints of water shortages and accept payments for road cutting, to avoid delays in restoring supply.The commission recommended that govt, along with the department of drinking water and PWD, evolve a mechanism under which consumers can approach only the department of drinking water to lodge complaints and make road-cutting payments, wherever required, when water shortage issues arise.The recommendations were issued by GHRC chairperson Justice Bharat Deshpande and members Desmond D’Costa and Pramod Kamat after the commission found that Arpora residents faced a month-long delay in resolving their complaints because they were made to approach multiple departments.On July 24, the commission took suo motu cognisance of TOI’s report, ‘Over a month without water, Arpora locals say govt agencies passing buck’, and sought reports from the chief secretary, chief engineer of the department of drinking water, principal chief engineer of PWD, and secretary of the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat.When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, an assistant engineer from the department of drinking water produced copies of letters stating that the water shortage issue had been resolved.The commission recorded that the department had taken the necessary steps to restore water supply to residents of Lakeside Residency, Arpora. It also observed that the resolution was delayed because consumers had to approach different departments.The commission directed the authorities to submit action-taken reports by Sept 30.This paper had reported that some Arpora residents had been without water supply for over a month, with govt unable to provide a timeline for restoration even as households incurred mounting costs on private water tankers.According to a grievance submitted on behalf of the residents, the community had sent repeated reminders and representations since the disruption began but received only a communication directing them to obtain permission from “another department” to cut the road. TOI had reported residents saying no official could clearly identify the competent authority or explain the procedure to restore water supply.The complainant first approached the Arpora panchayat but was directed to the department of drinking water for pipeline repairs. Residents were then asked to approach PWD for road-cutting permission, where they were further told to submit a site plan and Form I & XIV for a public road before permission to dig could be granted.
