Team Herald
MAPUSA: Calangute constituency will be garbage-free in next six months and along with Calangute, Candolim and Arpora too would get underground sewerage pipelines. This was emphasised by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo while addressing media on Monday.
To improve tourism in Goa, the two major developments that were needed immediately were efficient garbage disposal and proper sewerage treatment, he underlined.
“Having a sewerage plant in Calangute was the need of the hour since the groundwater was completely polluted. The process of laying sewerage pipelines in the constituency took four years since it was done without affecting any business,” Lobo pointed out, adding that the project was near completion.
Land-owners whose land had been acquired for the sewerage treatment plant in Baga and two pumping stations could now claim their money through deed of succession or inventory in EDC, since amount of the project was already deposited at EDS.
Tender for Candolim garbage-treatment plant would be processed once the authorities hold a meeting with PWD and Finance Minister, as the preliminary drawings of the project were ready, he said, adding that Calangute plant would provide 5 million litres daily (MLD) of water, which would be supplied for external use in the constituency.
To make the constituency garbage-free in next six months, a special village garbage map would be drawn for effective garbage management, the Calangute MLA said.
There is also plan to provide dustbins every fifty metres, which would be disposed twice-a-day by different team of workers operating in two shifts.
Lobo also did not seem to be satisfied with the beach-cleaning efforts of Drishti, the agency that currently holds the cleaning contract, saying garbage was often seen piled for four to five days on the beaches and this was perhaps one of the reasons for the drop in quality and quantity of tourists in these parts.
While calling for streamlining of the entire garbage-cleaning process, he said the tender for beach garbage collection would be floated soon and warned if the contractor failed to live up to expectations, the government should not hesitate to give the money and responsibilities to concerned panchayats.
