lA PIL pointing to the fact no EIA conducted for setting up proposed waste treatment plant on cards
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The State government may have already taken into possession 1.35 lakh sq mts land at Saligao-Calangute for a garbage treatment plant, but may not find it easy to start work on it with villagers set to fight a legal battle against the relocation of the plant.
Residents have decided to file a contempt petition in the High Court against the government for violating court’s 2003 order, which had opposed setting up of any waste treatment plant at the proposed site.
Apart from a contempt petition, Saligao Garbage Struggle (SGS) is also planning to file a PIL pointing to the fact that no environment impact assessment (EIA) study has been conducted by the government and that the proposed technology – ZAK or Zentrale Abfallwirtschaft Kaiserslautern mixed waste treatment plant at Kaiserslautern in Southwest Germany – will not be a success.
“The 2003 High Court order says that once the solid waste plant in North Goa is set up, the present site (where the garbage has been dumped) has to be reverted to the forest department, as earlier it was under social forestry, so as to rehabilitate and restore it to its original state,” Member of Saligao Comunidade Dean D’Cruz told Herald.
D’Cruz said that the government has completely violated the High Court ruling in this matter (Writ Petition No 28/2003) and hence faces contempt. We will shortly file the petition in the court with a plea that government should be asked to implement the said order, he added.
He pointed out that the villagers have proposed an alternate site on the same plateau, only 700 mtrs away from the proposed site above the Salmona hill.
D’Cruz said that government without conducting any EIA study has gone ahead with the project, brining in technology from Germany that has proven to be a failure in at least five places across India.
The villagers under the banner SGS have been constantly opposing the garbage plant in the last couple of months. Chief Minister has also failed to look into their issues and has gone ahead with the proposal.
