Opa rejuvenated after water released to check for crocs

Ponda: Water levels at Opa were recorded at 3.8m this week, higher than 3.5m recorded during the corresponding period last year. The water resources department (WRD) released water from a bandhara following a crocodile attack on a local. It is to help the forest department search for crocodiles within the river basin. The released water has, however, rejuvenated the dipping basin of the Khandepar river at Opa.Mohan Raikar, an executive engineer of the WRD, said that they acted on the request of the forest officials.“The forest officers had requested us to release the bandhara water to check the number of muggers in the river basin,” Raikar told TOI.The woman, Vishranti Gaonkar, 58, a resident of Santon-Dabal, Dharbandora, was severely injured in an attack by a crocodile after she ventured into the Dudhsagar river basin to wash clothes. The spot where the crocodile targeted her is regularly used by locals to wash clothes.Gaonkar was saved only because of the swift intervention by her neighbours, Prakash Naik and Sushanti Naik. She is undergoing treatment at South Goa district hospital in Margao.