Water hyacinths return to river Sal months after dredging

NT NETWORK
MARGAO
Barely months after 3.5 km stretch of river Sal was dredged, water hyacinth has returned to the river surface once again. Nearly 50 per cent of the dredged portion of the river is now covered with the water hyacinth.
The six-km stretch of the river was taken up for dredging at the cost of Rs 9 crore earlier this year while the sewage treatment plant is yet to be commissioned despite assurance from the Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar that the plant would be ready by May.
Locals informed that there has been unprecedented movement of water hyacinth during the last few days from both upstream and low stream and the same are getting deposited along the edge of the river between Kharebandh and Sinquetim.
They informed that till such time that the sewerage from Margao is not stopped from being released in the river, the water hyacinth will continue to cover the river bed due to the rich nutrient from the sewage.
Minister for Fisheries Avertano Furtado, reacting to the reappearance of the water hyacinth, said the vegetation will get washed away with the change of tide and there is nothing to be worried besides work on the dredging of the remaining portion of the river will also be taken up shortly.
He said that the sewerage treatment plant will be commissioned in November and the work is nearly complete. Soon they will start allotting connections to the households.
He said that the discharge of raw sewage into water will also come to an end as the concerned authorities have already initiated action against those discharging sewage into the river.