PANAJI: The administration of the Corporation of the City of Panaji is presently unable to resolve the matter as to whether the St Inez nullah is really a nullah or a creek

, thus making it impossible for the Corporation to take any decision on the ongoing construction activities, up to 10 mts on either sides of this water body.
A nullah is typically a concrete lined channel designed to allow rapid run off of storm water from high ground, to prevent flooding of urbanised coastal areas, while a creek is a natural stream of water smaller than a river, and is often a tributary of a river.
The CCP officials have however maintained that efforts are being made to fill up the St Inez nullah by filling in soil, and such activities form clear violation of the CRZ rules.
The St Inez nullah is currently awaiting its beautification under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, at an estimated cost of Rs 17 crore.
However, even before the beautification has commenced, some part of the nullah along Tonca area, has been filled up by soil, for constructing a road. In fact, a construction company, which has undertaken major construction work in the area, is presently filling up 300 mts of nullah along the sewage treatment plant at Tonca, to construct 7 mts of road. The construction work already has the permissions of North Goa Planning and Development Authority and Taleigao panchayat.
The CCP experts on the its JNNURM committee maintained that if the nullah is filed up with soil then Panaji may face similar floods as faced by the city of Mumbai, due to the reduction in size of the channel of Mithi River.
“The St Inez nullah provides safety to Panaji from high tides and floods, during the heavy rains,” they said.
“If the St Inez nullah is recognised as a creek then all the CRZ rules would be applicable to it,” the CCP experts on the JNNURM committee noted. The CRZ rules disallow any construction, 10 mts on either sides of the creek, they maintained.
Meanwhile, the CCP has already lodged a complaint about the filling of a part of the St Inez nullah with the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority authorities.