Team Herald
MAPUSA: Stink welcomes visitors to the Mapusa’s sub yard, the lone wholesale location for fruits and vegetables in the town.
If one visits the sub yard one can find vegetables, fruits and plastic waste dumped in the area giving it an ugly look.
Thousands are forced to visit the Mapusa sub yard everyday for their daily needs irrespective of its unhygienic condition. The authorities and the vendors here have failed on the hygiene and cleanliness front.
Sources stated that since the area available in the sub yard for disposing garbage is limited, vendors cannot dump the same anywhere else.
With no proper place for garbage disposal, the sellers at sub yard have been allegedly dumping the garbage from sub yard area on the land acquired for new Mapusa bus stand.
When Herald team visited the site, it was revealed that the Mapusa municipality staff was found dumping garbage at the new Mapusa bus stand site.
Sources further informed that since the past two years, the municipality refrained from sending its vehicle for disposing the sub yard waste.
The waste has attracted strays who feast on the leftovers and the place has turned into a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, which may cause a health hazard.
To add to this, despite the public toilet located in the sub yard area people are found defecating in the open.
When Herald team spoke to people visiting Mapusa Sub Yard, this is what they had to say.
A college student said, “We come here to have snacks but as soon as we enter the yard it stinks and this situation is prevailing since for many years and there is no sign of improvement”.
A resident, who daily visits the yard said, “Every year the condition of the yard is turning from bad to worse especially during monsoon. When we enter the sub yard it emanates foul odour. There is an urgent need to maintain the yard on an urgent basis.”
When contacted sub yard officials, they refused to talk about the prevailing unhygienic conditions at the yard.
An official claimed that they have been cleaning the yard on daily basis and have been disposing of the garbage in a proper manner.
“Since the area is limited we cannot dump the garbage anywhere else. We cannot do anything about this issue because all we can do is report to our head office”, the official added.
When contacted Councillor Sandip Falari said, “MMC lifts garbage of the fruit & vegetable vendors who sit at the entrance of the sub yard gate and further dump the same behind the yard.
