KATHY PEREIRA
After being troubled by haphazard disposal and management of garbage in recent times, Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) has now been faced with yet another problem.
Four of the existing five CMC garbage compactors are out of order for the last several days and the CMC garbage workers are now left with only a donated rickshaw-sized vehicle to collect the daily garbage. This has badly hampered day-to-day collection of garbage, leaving piles of garbage lying strewn in and around different parts of the municipality.
The CMC’s decision to reconsider the high repair costs reportedly quoted by the company concerned for one vehicle has prompted unhappy residents to offer their contribution to repair the vehicles needed for garbage collection in the municipality.
Says CMC’s former chairperson Rajendra Dessai, “It is unfortunate that the repair of the faulty garbage compactors has been held up by CMC for want of funds, especially at a time when garbage is being generated in huge quantities during the ongoing tourism season.”
“The CMC is presently functioning with only a rickshaw-sized vehicle and that too, donated by a starred hotel, and is haphazardly collecting day-to-day garbage.”
“If this is the state of affairs in the CMC, we are willing to contribute to the repairs of the vehicles, so that the councillors can continue with the house-to-house collection. We feel sad and upset to see the amount of garbage strewn in several areas like Char-Rasta, Gulem junction and Colomb-Patnem,” said Dessai.
The situation in Canacona town is such that taxi operators now refrain from taking a shortcut via Gulem and Devbhag which is infested with garbage, to prevent tourists from seeing the dirty spots of the municipal area. Instead, they prefer to take a longer route via Char Rasta.
When contacted, CMC Chairperson Simon Rebello admitted that high repair quotes did delay the repair of the garbage compactors.
“It is true that the civic administration did reconsider the decision to repair one of the four faulty garbage compactors, after receiving a quote for Rs 3 lakh. However, efforts are on to repair the hydraulic lift of another garbage compactor on a war footing,” he said.
“Besides, a new compactor is expected anytime now, as payments have already been made to procure the vehicle,” he added.Rebello, however, strongly criticized some residents for recklessly dumping garbage in open spaces, even though the CMC had provided garbage bins in every locality.
“Most of the garbage is the result of reckless waste being dumped by residents. We had seen people throwing down waste from the windows of their flats, despite providing them with garbage bins. This is really unfortunate as the garbage only attracts stray cattle and dogs, besides causing various problems in the locality,” said Rebello. “Garbage collection will be done more vigorously in the days to come as all the faulty garbage compactors will be repaired in due course,” he assured.
