This ‘red boat’ hopes to connect citizens to the creek

Panaji: A little 'red boat' navigating its way through the garbage-infested St Inez creek, has caught the attention of locals living by the watercourse. Built by Vishal Rawlley from Dona Paula, the lightweight improvised watercraft has empowered the young and old, who live along the banks of the creek, to take the charge of cleaning up the creek into their hands.So far, around 10-12 young boys have joined Rawlley on the red boat’s journey.
Environmentalist and activists have run out of words to describe the stench and filth in St Inez creek, which is often referred to as a ‘nullah’ by even by local politicians. This novel initiative aims to help citizens of the state capital, especially those living along the creek, to develop a sense of belonging to the waterway. “It’s time we forge a relationship with the creek and stop treating it as the city’s garbage bin,” says Rawlley, an Orissa-born filmmaker, who has made Goa his home for the last four years.
The cleaning mission began sometime around mid-May and the participants, mostly children from migrant settlements, have begun to take pride and responsibility in this venture. Using hoop nets to gather the garbage, and old tires as buoys, the children accompanied by Rawlley, have managed to row their boat and clear the floating garbage at the tail-end of the creek at Camarabhat — where the creek forms a pool as it meets the fields of Taleigao.
During the monsoon, the water gushing down from Nagalli hills colony in Dona Paula floods the fields in Taleigao and Caranzalem, and the locals often blame the backflow of water from the creek for the destruction of their crop. With bags of floating garbage and weeds now removed, local farmers are hoping that this monsoon won’t be a nightmare. “They blame our farming techniques for bad yields, when the truth is that our crops are submerged in knee-deep water whenever there is a heavy downpour,” said a local farmer from Taleigao.
“It’s not just livelihoods that are destroyed, but lives are at danger too. Sanitation is beyond politics. Water-borne diseases affect us all, whether you live in high rise apartments or huts,” says Rawlley, who is overwhelmed by the response and admiration he has got from hutment-dwellers.
The Red Boat project is on a green mission and aims to work with local authorities, scientists from NIO, environmentalists and local residents to form an integrated structure that will mobilize people from different economic and social backgrounds to take responsibility and pride in having a biodiversity hotspot in the heart of the city. “Rowing a boat in the St Inez creek is not the most pleasant of journeys because of the pollution. But, imagine if it were clean and you could row in a little boat in the company of otters, crocodiles, birds, turtles and fish,” said Rawlley.
Architect Tallulah D’Silva, who has worked with Rawlley on this project, says, “This is just the beginning and is meant to draw attention to Goa’s waters. Hopefully, it will engage communities all across the state and spark a positive change.”
For Rawlley, boating started with the making of a pontoon boat a couple of years ago. It consisted of two tin floats that could be connected in a few different ways — to favour stability, or maneuverability, or comfort, or speed. “This was a design you could dismantle. Individual components could be transported and reassembled by the water with just a few nuts and bolts,” he says, adding that the project is also meant to promote leisure boating along the backwaters of Goa.
His boat-making workshops at Goa College of Architecture and Dempo College of Commerce and Economics produced some interesting projects, where students learnt to design and build impromptu floats from scrapyard material or of bamboo, barrels or even plastic. “These designs can help evacuate people stranded in floods, during an emergency situation,” he says.