A group of vigilant Saligao residents along with their MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar after expressing strong opposition to plans for expansion of the failed garbage treatment plant and went on to stop many leachate flowing/stinking/uncovered garbage trucks on Sunday which were passing through their village and heading to the plant. The Minister for Waste Management, Michael Lobo has now reportedly promised to lay down safety measures for the trucks plying from different places to the facility with wet waste just to temporally cool down the tempers of the people of Saligao but has still not backtracked from his plans of expanding the said plant in future.
In fact, the individuals who are in charge of this plant are still seen (obviously at the behest of their political masters) trying to paint a glossy picture, somehow trying to show the plant in 100% perfect working condition through the media by outrightly dismissing all fears/complaints raised by villagers of Saligao as imaginary, if not false and portraying them all like politically motivated.
. The garbage plant was set up with a lot of hype by the late Manohar Parrikar with the promise of treating garbage only from Saligao and the surrounding coastal areas as the plant had the capacity of handling only 100 tonnes of garbage per day.
Unfortunately, the people of Saligao were backstabbed by the government as this important promise was never kept and trucks even from across North Goa were slowly allowed to bring garbage at the plant resulting in dropping of garbage/leachate along the already overburdened narrow roads of our village and in the bargain emanating foul smell of rotting waste everywhere. Today, the villagers are rightly raising their voice and fighting against this failed plant as it has gone to create a nuisance and slowly pollute the clean environment of Saligao.
Unfortunately, the government of the day is reportedly still planning of expanding the capacity of the plant from the current 120 to 250 tonnes despite of knowing fully well that the current plant is an outdated one and is a total failure. Looks like the government wants to turn Saligao into a garbage capital of Goa by somehow supporting the expansion of the plant bullying the people of Saligao with false assurances and utter lies through the media.
Garbage is indeed generated by all villages of Goa but my question is why should only the people of Saligao suffer and invite disaster on their future generations by blindly doing such charity? Would the people of other villages have allowed the villagers of Saligao to commit such an outrageous act of transporting filthy garbage at a so-called ‘treatment-site’ in their own neighborhood?
Well, I really like to salute the foxes of Saligao who are currently raising their voices against the proposed expansion of the garbage plant and unitedly fighting to keep the environment of their sacred village clean for good. Three cheers to them… The future of Saligao lies not in the hands of our politicians or panch members but in the hands of all Saligaonkars themselves.
