PANJIM: Goa State Pollution
Control Board (GSPCB) on Wednesday issued show-cause notices to six municipal
councils for their failure to adhere to the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW)
guidelines, thereby causing environmental pollution in the council
jurisdiction.
The notices have been issued
to the municipal councils of Bicholim, Pernem, Sankhalim, Quepem, Cuncolim and
Canacona under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.
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The notices, answerable
within seven days, ask “why the stringent legal action under section 5 and 17
of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 read with the provision of the
Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000, should not be initiated against you”.
The Board found that in all
cases, municipal solid waste generated is handled in an environmentally unsound
manner and in violation of the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules
thereby causing environmental pollution in the vicinity.
“The Board continuously
monitors all the municipal councils and village panchayats on the issue of
handling of solid waste. We have observed that in many cases the municipal
councils dump the waste in the open, don’t utilize the sites allocated for
dumping of garbage, and also fail to furnish the details on quality and
quantity of waste generated in the jurisdiction,” GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel
Noronha said.
During the inspections
undertaken at the waste dumping sites of the six municipal councils, it was found
that approximately 57 tonnes of mixed waste had been dumped without proper
segregation and that the organic waste convertors were not in operation. In
some cases, it was found that the dry waste was burnt in the open.
Noronha said that in the
past the Board had issued show cause notices to the municipal councils of
Margao, Vasco, Ponda and Panjim for violations of MSW Rules.
