Repaired for Rs 82 lakh year ago, Azossim bundh crumbling again

Panaji: The 2.5km internal bundh at Azossim, which was repaired barely a year ago for Rs 82 lakh, is crumbling again due to the ravaging tidal flow and alleged lack of maintenance.
With the area hit by a high tidal flow over the past few days, extensive parts of the khazan land have been submerged due to small breaches in the bundh.
Residents expressed apprehensions that a delay in repairing breaches and damaged portions can lead to the collapse of the bigger stretches within a few days.
“The floodwater may reach the Pilar-Old Goa road and houses in low-lying areas,” said Francis Po, a panch of the Azossim-Mandur panchayat.
The influx of saline water from the Cumbharjua canal has damaged paddy crops and vegetables, some farmers said. The past damage included the submergence of a football ground, flattening of coconut and other fruit-bearing trees, and contamination of drinking water wells.
In the vast khazan zone extending from Agasaim and Neura to Azossim-Mandur and Carambolim along the 10-odd km road from Agasaim to almost Old Goa, the khazans are protected by an outer bundh on the Cumbharjua canal.
But Ofla, Domzo, Caujem, and Nangonzo bundh stretches on this canal are weak and heavily breached, leading to the incursion of the water of the canal — that links the Mandovi and the Zuari — into the vast khazan land.
The Azossim internal bundh faces the brunt of the strong tidal flow. A major 15m breach that had been repaired in May 2023 at a cost of Rs 12 lakh had collapsed within a few days.
The agriculture departmen
t, through the Tiswadi mamlatdar’s initiative, had taken up repairs of three major breaches and the Rs 82 lakh project was completed in the April-May period of 2024.
The committee of St Mateus Tenants Association, barring one member, had quit their posts and the talathi has been appointed administrator. “A new committee needs to be appointed to oversee the affairs,” Po said.