CALANGUTE: While it’s true that very few village panchayats are sending garbage for treatment to the Saligao plant, the question also arises as to whether they are receiving enough support from the government.
Most of the panchayats say the plant operators now want the garbage to be segregated, which they claim is impossible with the limited resources available.
Panchayats claim that when the plant was in the process of coming up they were told it will treat both mixed as well as segregated garbage but suddenly, based on NGT order, the government decided they want only segregated garbage.
Panchayats feel the people need to be first educated on segregation and some state the people need to be penalised for not doing it and only then things will work.
Calangute Acting Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said his panchayat makes efforts to get segregated garbage. “We cannot segregate waste which is dumped on the borders of the village and our daily waste collectors take it and dump it at the plant,” he said. Further, Sequeira added, “We begin wet waste collection from hotels at 12 midnight till about 4 am. Again at 6 am four trucks go house-to-house collecting waste.” He said that for this the locals are not charged but only flat owners are charged.
Sequeira feels people need to be educated on segregation of garbage and panchayats also need to be given time. He said the government needs to support panchayats financially to handle waste collection and dumping at site for labour and vehicles.
Parra sarpanch Delilah Lobo said that though the panchayat has put garbage bins at various places she isn’t able to manage segregation. “People need to be educated on the issue first. Remember even Panjim took 10 years to fall in line,” she said. The sarpanch added that funding is a problem for panchayats as the Rs 1 lakh grant given per year is not enough to handle garbage. “We collect garbage from bins everyday besides door-to-door dry waste collection every Sunday, so we require substantial manpower and Rs 1 lakh is just not enough. How will the panchayats manage?” she asked.
Former Calangute MLA and mentor of Candolim panchayat, Agnelo Fernandes said getting segregated waste from people is a tedious job.
“Candolim panchayat was the first in Goa to begin door-to-door collection when I was the sarpanch. We were also first to acquire our own land for disposal but the contractor ditched us,” he said. He added, “I am of the opinion that every panchayat should handle its own garbage.” Fernandes, however, said it is not easy to get segregated waste from people as there is no proper awareness. “Getting segregated garbage is the biggest challenge and we need to create awareness and those not following have to be fined,” he said adding, “the government also needs to support panchayats financially on the issue.”
When contacted, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said the issue could be solved only when a Solid Waste Management Corporation is in place. “Every main road should have two bins one for wet and one for dry, which have to be collected on daily basis,” he said.
Lobo said that if the government wants to see Goa as a garbage-free zone the Garbage Corporation has to be functional at the earliest. “Right now people are dumping waste anywhere on the road in the coastal belt,” he said.
He said that the beach contractors have also failed to keep bins as promised. “The contractor is more interested in tins, bottles and tetra packs as they can be sold,” he said.
Lobo said the government should fund the panchayats and collect revenue in the form of taxes from commercial establishments.
