SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Team Herald
margao: Fish waste from the Colva fish market, located opposite Colva Church, is disposed of in the Fama procession lane adjacent to the market, making the area an assault on all the senses. A large mound of garbage has sprouted just off the main Colva Beach Road with everything from rotting fish guts and heads, carpets of prawn shells, plastic bags, food waste from a pushcart nearby and diapers, ironically only two feet away from a Cross erected to deter the dumpers. "The lane has also been a dumping ground for kittens, puppies and unwanted pets, and even worse, their carcasses," said Raymond Rodrigues, a local business owner. "Two months ago, someone dumped a large dead calf, stuffed in a sack, in the agricultural field behind the market. I had to cremate it myself, as the stench was unbearable. The panchayat says they are helpless, as the dumping happens late at night," said Rodrigues. To make matters worse, the fish market has no toilet facility, forcing the vendors-- most of them women- to relieve themselves out in the open, or in the overgrown bushes that line the lane. "The functioning of a tinto under such unsanitary conditions is a health hazard and a nuisance to the neighbours and their businesses," said G Anand, who owns a shop close by. "It is apparent that the lane can be kept clean when there is a will to do so. Once a year, the lane becomes spotless nearly overnight, ahead of the Colva Fama," he says. The shrubbery along the lane is cleared out, the garbage mechanically moved from the street to the adjacent field and the tinto, is spruced up. "This revamp lasts around two weeks, and the dumping begins again,” he said.
