MAPUSA: The Saligao villagers and the local panchayat have unanimously decided that there should not be any further expansion of the Solid Waste Management plant at Saligao.
A local and member of Save Saligao group, Mario Cordeiro highlighted that the plant is a failure due to the unsegregated garbage coming in from the various villages.
“The locals have mainly three issues with the expansion of the plant. First, the current vehicles plying with garbage add to the already overburdened narrow roads and drop garbage and leachate along the village roads leading to the plant. The foul smell of rotting waste from these vehicles is unbearable as well as a health hazard. Secondly, the plant is stinking and the smell in our homes as well as in the neighbouring villages do not allow people to live healthy. Thirdly, the run-off of the plant has contaminated the groundwater and more wells are testing unfit for human consumption as the days pass,” said Cordeiro.
“In such a scenario the further expansion of the plant can only worsen the situation. Our health is a priority and the government cannot deny us our right to life. According to me the dump at Saligao will soon turn into another Sonsoddo as the stink will continue if no action is taken in time. This village will become the garbage capital of Goa if the plant is further expanded,” added Cordeiro.
A farmer from Saligao and member of Save Saligao group, Ramesh Ghadi told Herald that they are against the expansion of the garbage plant.
“The trucks carrying garbage spill waste on the roads creating a nuisance to the general public. Few days ago a truck overloaded with wet waste from Anjuna spilled heaps of garbage on the road. It was stopped by us and sent back to its destination as this road has become a nightmare for us as well as the children going to school. All the village panchayats are supposed to see that closed container trucks with leachate collection tanks facilities are in place for bio degradable waste collection and transportation. We will not tolerate this stink and spillage of garbage on the road during transportation,” said Ghadi.
Three months ago, the Candolim Residents and Consumer Forum visited the plant and saw that remediation work was underway of segregating the dump outside the plant. The size of the dump outside the plant was reduced to half which was a good sign and the smell had reduced to a great extent.
Another villager raised the issue of trucks from different villages passing through the village road to the garbage plant resulting in a stink and spillage of leachate which was causing a number of accidents on these stretches.
“With 100 tonnes capacity we face so much of problem and once the capacity is increased we do not know what will be the plight of this heritage village. The question of the expansion of this plant is haunting every Saligaokar. We do not like the way our village is being treated like a dumping yard. The RDF generated from this plant is 30 per cent of the garbage which is actually supposed to be only 10 per cent,” he said.
One can recall that earlier this week, angry locals from Saligao stopped a truck carrying garbage spilling leachate on the road while proceeding to the Solid Waste Management plant at Saligao. The truck was asked to go back to the village from where it came from. The Saligao Police and officials from the Solid Waste Management plant were informed about the incident and came to the spot where the truck was halted.
Locals opine that the Saligao Waste Management Plant is turning to be a nightmare as the issues pertaining to this plant are only increasing with every passing day. This topic of trucks plying through the village spilling their waste on the road has come up at the gram sabha on several occasions.
