TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: A dozen hotels and resorts across the state, including a couple of establishments located down South, run the risk of closure and revocation and cancellation of their consent to operate for disposing their bio-degradable waste in the piggeries.
Goa State Pollution Control Board has further pulled up the hotel establishments for their failure to install machinery and equipment for converting bio-degradable waste generated in the premises to compost. These establishments have been granted seven days time to show-cause why the consent to operate issued to the establishments should not be revoked and cancelled on grounds that the resorts have been operating in violation of the consent conditions. The establishments have been asked to further show cause why the Board should not issue appropriate directions for closure of the hotel.
Says GSPCB Member Secretary Levinson Martins: “The consent to operate under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 stipulated that the hotels should install and maintain equipment and facilities for converting bio-degradable waste into compost as prescribed in the Municipal Solid waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. However, inspection of these hotels and resorts revealed that they have failed to install the machinery for converting bio-degradable hotel waste to compost.”
Taking serious cognizance of the failure to comply with the violations, the Board has threatened to initiate stringent legal action against the erring hotel units in accordance with the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
Says GSPCB Chairman, Jose Manuel Noronha: “The Board had carried out inspections of starred resorts since bio-degradable waste generated from here was finding its way to the piggeries along the coastal belt. This hotel waste has resulted in the creation of illegal waste dumps in the village, posing a health hazard and nuisance to residents.”
He said the Consent to Operate terms clearly stipulate hotels and resorts to have their own facility to treat wet waste into compost. “In some cases, we have found out that though hotels have installed the units, they are not put to use, with the waste being lifted by contractors for supply to the piggeries,” he added.
