Team Herald
MARGAO: Benaulim residents on Wednesday strongly objected to the proposed move of the local panchayat to install the machinery to treat wet garbage near its office.
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The locals demanded that the dry waste sorting centre be relocated to a suitable location.
Former sarpanch Royla Fernandes said the residents of Benaulim, who stay within the close vicinity of Benaulim panchayat building met deputy sarpanch Nilesh Prabhudessai, Wednesday morning over the proposed move of the panchayat to install machinery to treat wet garbage.
The work of constructing Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for dry waste is currently on. Xavier Pereira, a panch came out in support of the residents.
The residents led by Remedious Pinto had earlier submitted a representation to relocate the dry waste sorting centre in December 2019 to another suitable location considering the foul smell emanating from the waste and particularly due to two previous incidents of the garbage catching fire.
“The discussions with the deputy sarpanch did not yield results except a promise by him to try to look into the possibility of finding another location in the future”, she said.
Matheus Fernandes, a senior citizen said he had requested to put on hold the installation of the machinery till a new location is identified. The Deputy Sarpanch claimed that the panchayat has got the necessary permissions and will go ahead with the installation.
“Contrary to the deputy sarpanch’s claim, an RTI reply submitted by a villager revealed the contrary”, he said.
Matheus said the villagers are not against the waste treatment centre but not by creating nuisance, leading to health hazard. However, knowing that it will create problems for the residents, the panchayat is not ready to listen to the villagers and is challenging the appeal before the court.
The residents are now evaluating the legal route to get relief from the inconvenience of treating garbage close to a residential area, as per norms of Goa State Pollution Control Board.
