DIRTY TOWERS OF GOA!

No Comments

The recent outbreak of diarrhea at the Prabhu Violette at Dabolim should serve as a wake up call to all the dirty towers, which do not have functioning supervised sewage treatment plants or PWD drinking water connections.

THE Prabhu Violette (Toiletta) complex of buildings is standing testimony to the avarice and greed of builders in Goa. Not just builders from Delhi and Mumbai and Bengaluru but even local niz Goenkar builders. The Prabhu Violetta complex at Dabolim comprises of three tower blocks each eight stories high with a total of 330 flats within an estimated 1,000 to 1,300 residents. The Prabhu Violetta complex has claimed overnight notoriety following over 150 cases of acute diarrhea so far. This outbreak has been triggered by the sewage pipelines mixing up with drinking water pipelines. Initial reports suggest that the sewage treatment plant which was grossly inadequate in the first place had virtually stopped functioning. The bore wells dug in the complex which were the primary source of water supply to the over 1,000 residents of the tower blocks were found to be contaminated. It was a combination of these factors which triggered the epidemic of acute diarrhea.
The Prabhu Violetta complex was promoted niz Goenkar family of Amit Chandrakant Prabhu, Meena Chandrakant Prabhu, Sumit Chandrakant Prabhu and Chandrakant Shrikrishna Prabhu which is a real estate group operating in the Fatorda-Vasco belt. The Prabhu Violetta complex commenced on February 24, 2018 and bears RERA registration May 4, 2018. RERA is a regulatory authority of real estate projects in the country. The Supreme Court recently pointed out that RERA condones all the sins of omission and commission of the builders although it was set up to benefit flat buyers. The Prabhu group claimed that the Violetta complex was completed on December 31, 2022. The occupancy certificate was promptly issued by the local Dabolim panchayat.
It may be pointed out that builders normally secure occupancy certificates block wise, showing some minimal infrastructure of water supply and sewage treatment plants. They scale up rapidly to multiple blocks but do not upgrade their drinking water infrastructure and the size of the sewage treatment plant. Though it is mandatory for all building complexes with over 24 flats to have an STP sewage treatment plant in most cases the capacity of the plant is less than 20 persons of the requirement . Moreover once a builder hands over the complex to the flat buyers there is no maintenance of the STPs, the STPs require a high degree of maintenance and skilled operators. They require a dedicated infrastructure of water and power and qualified operators to maintain the STPs. Unfortunately, flat owners who are willing to spend several crore on a single dwelling unit or a home away from home in paradise Goa, are not willing to meet the routine expenditure on maintenance of the STPs.
The diarrhea epidemic was a disaster waiting to happen. Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane went into a frenzy of activity. The Food & Drugs Administration and Water Resources Department have been asked to investigate the cause of the diarrhea epidemic. The Chicalim Health Centre was alerted and prepared for the disaster. It was established that the bore wells which supplied water to the complex were contaminated. The drinking water pipelines got contaminated by sewage. Interestingly, no action has been taken against the builder, the builder has not been arrested despite clear evidence that the diarrhea epidemic was the result of criminal negligence. If the builder had not given in to greed and had put up an STP of adequate capacity the epidemic might not have happened.

DABOLIM HYPERACTIVITY
THE construction company has been hyperactive in the Dabolim area adjacent to the airport. Other projects are of Prabhu Builders as in Prabhu’s Emerald in Dabolim, located on the National Highway 17B near the airport. Emerald consists of three blocks A, B and C with a mix of 2BHK and 3BHK flats, the complex also has a shopping mall put up. Prabhu Builders have put up the Sky Panoramic at Alto Dabolim near the railway over bridge. This consists of five tower blocks of over 500 blocks. The project of apartments and shops has been given an occupancy certificate in 2025. The third project is Prabhu Signature Apartments in Chicalim. There is also the Casa De Flores project at Verna.
All the above projects are concentrated in the high density Dabolim-Chicalim-Vasco belt where the infrastructure is already under heavy stress. It may be mentioned that the Butanis of Delhi are also involved in a huge complex of 20 tower blocks with over 5,000 flats in the same geographical belt.
The questions which arise are whether all these projects were given assurances of water supply by the Public Works Department and the Water Resources Department. Are the STPs functioning in the other projects of the same builders? Ironically, following complains earlier in 2025, show cause notices were issued to the builder Prabhu Realty but the builder insisted that everything was hunky dory. Now the builder is on the back foot as there is an exodus from the buildings of Prabhu Violetta and panic in the other buildings constructed and developed by Prabhu Realty. Reportedly, there are complaints from residents about the buildings promoted by Prabhu Realty.

NO PWD WATER: The super luxury Mathais Ocean Park at Dona Paula where flats cost Rs2 crore or more, has a swimming and an ocean view but no PWD water connection for potable water and depends on tanker water.

LARGER IMPLICATIONS
THIS has larger implications for all the premium tower blocks coming up all over the state. It is revealed that the STP capacity of the Mathias Ocean Park which has 15 tower blocks with over 600 premium flats has only an STP plant with a capacity of 150 liters sewage per day as against the requirement of 800 liters STP plant. The occupancy certificates was issued a decade ago. Similar is the situation in respect of the ultra luxury Signature Anantam Villaments, the four bedroom apartments with swimming pools coming up next to the Don Bosco Headquarters in Odxel close to the Baywatch complex promoted by Models. Alarm bells are ringing in the highly stressed Kadamba Plateau where the Geras have built a huge complex of over a 1,000 flats, the complex also hosts a branch of the Sharada Mandir and will soon see the Miramar Salgaocar Law College shift to the 45000 sq mts plot bought by the Sharada Mandir Trust.
The bitter ground reality is that there is no regulatory field work to ensure that builders and developers guarantee portable water and scientific disposal of sewage. Indeed, the Kadamba Plateau developers have been allowed to claim that they will make their own arrangements for water which effectively means they will plunder underground water resources by digging tube wells. Goa does not have adequate drinking water as admitted by the Minister of Water Resources Subhash Phadessai in the assembly in the recent budget session. Despite this reckless development permissions are being given by municipalities and panchayats which continue to issue occupancy certificates — obviously for hefty bribes.
Goa has no notion of sustainable development. Humpty Dumpty is about to fall off the wall. The least that residents living in these premium towers can do is to ensure that they either force the builder to give them adequate infrastructure or put up the necessary infrastructure themselves. After all it is those who have invested in the flats that face the risk of incidents like the acute diarrheal epidemic which the residents of Prabhu Violetta are suffering from.