TEAM HERALD
CALANGUTE: They may be skeptical over the use of chemical toilets for their beach shacks, but shack operators from North and South Goa on Thursday were apprehensive over the State government’s delay in supplying chemical toilets, following a requirement laid down by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The shack owners deliberated on the pros and cons of the chemical toilets for running their shack business, when they called on Calangute MLA Michael Lobo at his residence in Parra.
Claiming that the chemical toilets were not suitable and impractical, some shack operators suggested a sewage pipeline along the coast for the beach shack toilets.
The suggestion was quickly shot down by Lobo, who said such an arrangement would not be possible on the beach.
The shack owners also alleged that though the tourism department had assured to supply them with chemical toilets, these promises were yet to be honoured and they feared that their businesses would be at stake.
“When we were allotted shacks, the tourism department had assured to supply us chemical toilets, but till date nothing has come. We have now been directed to install chemical toilets as a local had approached the NGT,” said All Goa Shack Owners Welfare Society President Cruz Cardozo.
“We have been using our own toilets with tanks, which were being emptied and discharged accordingly. But the NGT does not want such an arrangement. We have been asked to install chemical toilets for our shacks and so we want the State government to supply us with the same as early as possible,” demanded Cardozo.
Later, MLA Lobo told reporters that the NGT had directed the installation of chemical toilets for beach shacks, which was also endorsed by Goa State Pollution Control Board and CRZ authority.
“A joint site survey was also carried out by the authorities in this regard,” Lobo said.
“Former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had finalized the chemical toilets for Goan beaches and shacks. A tender was to be floated, but it never materialized. We will now impress upon the tourism department to expedite the installing of chemical toilets in the interest of the tourism industry,” he added.
“The livelihood of those involved in tourism is at stake. We have asked for a joint meeting with the tourism director to resolve the issue amicably,” Lobo said.
