Drugs and garbage are the two issues which have sullied the image of Goa over the past many years and have found a permanent place in the columns of newspapers and social networking sites almost every day.
On Friday, waste dumped near the Margao municipal building caught fire and exposed how shabby the civic body was when it came to handling waste. Margao is the State’s economic hub, but has proven to be the most controversial one when it comes to waste management. There are no words left to discuss the Sonsoddo garbage crisis anymore. The civic body has been drawing criticism for lack of governance over other parts of Margao too where handling garbage is concerned. Be it dumping of garbage near the Western Bypass or foul smell emanating from chicken and meat waste, any supervisor would be marked as a failure in the municipal body’s report card.
On one hand, Margao’s KTC bus stand is going through a major facelift ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting on February 6, while heaps of waste lie piled up near the doorsteps of the municipal building. When the electricity department’s personnel reached the site to disconnect the power supply in order to avoid any potential danger, they had no access to the transformers. One can imagine the density of the waste dumped given the fact that the personnel could not access the transformers.
The situation is similar with the transformer located near the Vintage Hospital, and electricity department workers have admitted to the difficulty in reaching there. Are councillors even aware of the impending doom caused by their own negligence?
The Chairperson stated that the municipal body treats the garbage every four months and the fire is inexplicable, which, in a way, is a confession of the civic body’s failure. But the million dollar question is why garbage is stored right in the prime location of the city.
The civic body has used the proposed multi-level parking area as a dumping yard. Besides, there are more garbage dumping spots around the city and if the chairperson claims that the waste is treated every four months, then he should also disclose how and when.
Every chairperson elected to the municipal council claims that the first priority would be to resolve the garbage issue. So, when every chairperson has to make it clear that resolving such an issue would be their priority, then that means the outgoing and former chairpersons failed to discharge their duties when it came to handling garbage.
Of course, it is also true that the public fails to behave in a civilised manner and the decision to initiate action against violators is appreciative. The MMC recovered Rs 73,000 in revenue after slapping fines against 43 violators in December 2023 alone. There is a need for more such drives on a consistent basis. In fact, the city’s future planners must consider waste management on priority basis. Focusing on generating the least possible amount of garbage should be the first step in waste management.
Not a week passes without news highlighting Margao’s garbage woes. A women’s group had carried out an innovative experiment last year in Margao to create awareness amongst the public regarding the severity of the garbage issue. They collected, segregated and reprocessed 6,000 kg of waste. Students of Shree Damodar College of Commerce and Economics had participated in the project. This should not only be an eye opener for the civic body but also for the citizens.
Problems related to the presence of drugs in Goa and waste management will persist as long as local governing bodies turn a Nelson’s Eye to both these issues.
