St Cruz VP directs housing societies to compost waste
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MERCES, MAY 8
The garbage menace is haunting not only cities but also villages and Santa Cruz is no different, as waste continues to pile up in many corners of the village, which has been giving a headache to panchayat authorities.
And to add to its misery, the panchayat has been unable to find a dumping site, which could get an okay from the Goa State Pollution Control Board. Moreover, the tender floated by the panchayat for collection of garbage has no takers as no contractor is willing to bid in the absence of a dump site.
However, the stumbling blocks have not deterred the panchayat authorities from shying away from its responsibilities and after much thought, the panchayat has come out with a solution, which will help in solving the garbage woes in the village to a large extent, if not entirely.
As a first step, the panchayat has issued notices to housing societies to construct composting units in its own backyard to dispose off its garbage and has given these societies a period of seven days to comply with the same.
Speaking to Herald, Sarpanch Rosy Fernandes said it is only the first part of its drive, in which notices will be issued to all the housing societies that do not have composting units.
“The drive then will be extended to all houses in the village,” she informed and added that those who fail to comply with the directives would attract penalty.
Rosy, however, said that before penalizing anyone, the panchayat would form a squad comprising of the village youth, which will go around the village and announce over the sound system asking all defaulters to comply with the directives within a given time frame.
“Even then, if the housing societies or individuals fail to build composting units, the squad will collect fines on behalf of the panchayat,” Rosy said and added that housing societies will attract a fine of Rs 500 while individual dwellings will attract a fine of Rs 100 per day, which will then be distributed between the panchayat and the squad on a 50-50 per cent basis.
When questioned whether the panchayat has given a thought of educating the villagers on how to treat garbage, Rosy said that they have already spoken to several NGOs that are involved in the field and their representatives would conduct sessions in the village on garbage treatment.
When pointed out that this drive would take care only of wet and bio-degradable garbage and not of plastic waste, Rosy said that they will tell the villagers to segregate the waste and keep the plastic waste aside. “Our NREGS employees will then collect the plastic waste, which will then be dispatched for shredding at Old Goa,” she informed and added that the panchayat is thinking of tying up with bottling companies to take care of plastic bottles.
Presently, Rosy informed that the panchayat is facing a tough time in tackling garbage menace with the help of daily wage labourers, and added that most of the time she has to spend money from her own pocket to pay the labourers.
