SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: While ‘technical hurdles’ has pushed the date for panchayat elections a little further, the boiling issue of Material Recovery Facility (MRF), an ongoing matter before the High Court of Bombay at Goa, could come to haunt several village panchayats.
A bunch of VPs claimed to have set up either permanent or temporary sheds in order to avoid the judiciary’s wrath but it also true that some facilities are either non-functional or inadequate for proper management of waste.
There are even panchayats such as Curca-Talaulim-Bambolim which ironically claims it does have a shed but waste handled by a contractor has “lessened work on the MRF”, as the waste is taken to Saligao Waste Management Plant.
“Our panchayat delayed setting up the shed but it happened. Initially, it was used on a large scale and thereafter we appointed a contractor, who handles the wet and dry waste, to be dumped at Saligao plant,” Deputy Sarpanch Marvin Gonsalves claimed.
However, the panchayat has been embroiled in debate over the garbage issues. Sources said that a site at Talaulim was proposed earlier where the Corporation of the City of Panaji has additionally suggested setting up cattle pound. The file has been pending for years.
“MRF is a segregation unit for bailing. Nobody wants to understand and nobody wants to make people understand,” alleged one of them from the Curca Panchayat.
Amicus Curiae and environmental expert Advocate Norma Alvares slammed that many panchayats are not adhering to the norms.
“The High Court has said that the panchayats where MRF is non operational or not yet been set up, cannot grant any construction licences at all. I find that some of them are setting up the MRF but not using it; they prefer to collect the waste and send it directly to the Saligao plant. This is a usual complaint by the Goa State Pollution Control Board,” Alvares said.
“They have to sort it out before sending it to the Saligao waste plant, rather than dumping it as it is. When you make it operational you have to engage some staff to sort it out and they (panchayats) don’t want to do it. A VP can’t create a shed and leave it,” she added.
With the matter being heard before the High Court, in other instances, the individuals from other panchayats namely Cortalim, Sancoale and Quelossim sought the judiciary’s intervention regarding in operational or inadequate preparation of the MRF in their respective localities.
In Cortalim, Alvares said, while there is a MRF shed, the waste is lying outside the premises.
“Many not using the facility although put up in temporary fashion. Most of the VPs have temporary sheds. They have to find a place and do some arrangement,” she said while urging the VPs to be true to their work.
It has also come to the fore that majority VPs, which are located in close vicinity of the Saligao plant are avoiding using the MRF. Alvares said, “The garbage collecting trucks are sent to the plant without segregation.”
“People are not directly writing to the courts seeking directions,” she said.
The High Court has time and again pulled up several VPs for non compliance. In one of its recent orders, the court observed that panchayats should take all the steps necessary for providing and making operational the MRF facilities.
“The usual excuses should not be given because these panchayats have been granted enough time to comply with the legal requirements, and we and the GSPCB have repeatedly issued directions. Furthermore, we clarify that even the Model Code of Conduct will not come in the way of panchayats providing for and making operational the MRF facilities. There are several directions from the court for implementation of solid waste management rules already issued,” reads an extract of the order.
