MARGAO: Margao Municipal Council’s door-to-door waste collection scheme seems to be giving sleepless nights to the city fathers in the commercial capital as well as residents of Benaulim bordering the city.
With the Margao civic body removing garbage bins from areas bordering Benaulim village as part of the overall objective of making the city binless, waste from the coastal belt now finds its way all along the roadsides in the city as well as in Benaulim.
If waste stacked in gunny bags has not stopped flowing into the city, especially in the Madel ward, bordering Benaulim and Seraulim villages, the situation is no different at Pedda-Benaulim as well. Days after the Margao civic body had to contend with gunny bags laden with waste dumped right opposite the KTC bus stand, incidents of waste dumping in Pedda-Benaulim has increased ever since the neighbouring town kicked off the door-to-door waste collection scheme. A resident of Pedda-Benaulim Roque Fernandes cried foul over the rising incidents of waste dumping in Pedda in recent times. Friday saw a resident confessing that he was involved in dumping waste at Pedda-Benaulim on grounds that the Margao Municipal Council has removed the garbage bins at Mungul, bordering Seraulim village.
While the resident was made to clean up the waste dumped along the road side, the alarming situation calls for a coordinated approach to solve the burning issue. Says Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai: “I feel the MLAs of the constituencies bordering Margao should take up with the government the issue of solving waste problem in their villages. I had cleaned up the wholesale fish market road, but hotel waste flowing from the coastal belt has brought the situation back to square one”.
Salcete’s coastal belt has no waste treatment plant to handle the tons of hotel waste generated in the business establishments. While the hotel managements wash their hands off by saying their waste is cleared by the garbage contractors, no one knows for sure whether the collected waste is dumped or disposed of.
To tackle the issue head on, it is suggested in many quarters that the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) steps in and collects details from the hotel establishment such as the names of the garbage contractors and their modus operandi of disposal.
An agitated MMC Chairperson Gonzaco Rebello did some tough talking on the issue with the civic body unable to stop the flow of outside waste into the city. “People of Margao are losing their patience over the waste that comes in from the city from the villages. Despite warning boards installed by the civic body.”
