Every summer, over 50,000 devotees of Goddess Lairai descend to Shirgao, a village of 2,700 residents in the mining-ravaged Bicholim taluka in north Goa, for the annual Zatra (religious fair). For weeks before the festival, the devotees —known as the Dhonds — bathe before walking on live coals.

Over the last few years, however, the village wells have been drying up in summer and forcing the Dhonds, who gather from across Goa, to rely on water supplied by tankers for their ritual bath. “We did not realise all these years that as the miners went deeper and deeper, the water would get sucked out. The wells have gone dry and people are running here and there for water. Last year, the situation was dire; this year, it is a little better,” said Sadanand Gaonkar, the sarpanch of Mayem, in north Goa, said.

It’s not a problem restricted to Mayem. Not too far away, the once-perennial Haravalem waterfall, also considered sacred, goes dry in summer. Across Goa’s mining belt that borders the eco-sensitive Western Ghats, villagers claim that the drying of wells in summer forces them to rely on water supplied by tankers.

“The water that the Goa public works department (PWD) supplies does not meet our needs. Every year, our wells dry up after the monsoon because of the mining pits. This year, too, they have dried up. Even after mining has stopped,” said Santosh Gawade a resident of Sonshi village in northeast Goa’s Sattari taluka which is home to 12 mines. Mining was banned in Goa in February 2017 by the Supreme Court.

A pan-Goa survey released on May 9, 2019 — done by Goa Livelihoods Forum, a non-profit think tank — revealed that four of five sub-districts where over 60% respondents reported water shortage as a major issue are from regions ravaged by mining.

The five sub-districts in which respondents reported water shortage are Ponda, Bicholim, Sanguem, Dharbandora and Salcete. Barring Salcete, a coastal region, the others are mining areas. “In the mining belt, the respondents felt that competing demands for water means that those who are marginalised find it more difficult to get water,” Charudatta Panigrahi, who supervised the research, said.

“We have been supplying tankers daily and have received no complaints so far. There’s no doubt that we cannot give as much water as the mining companies used to because of the costs involved,” Rumil Barreto, PWD executive engineer said.

Activists have suggested that the only way to solve the issue is to rehabilitate the mining areas and not allowing mining in future. “We are of the opinion that the only solution will be to cover up mining pits and allow the area to heal for the next 20 years...,” Abhijit Prabhudesai, an environmental activist, said.

First Published: May 19, 2019 06:46 IST