Highlighting the pathetic conditions of Eastern Bypass road from Housing Board circle to Power House at Aquem, Margao, in O Herald O daily dated November 2, through the Citizen-Herald Column, it looks like sections of the laid back administration at Margao has finally got into action.
On Diwali morning, i.e, November 14, Karnataka Commercial Industrial Company (KCIC) supervisor Imtiyaz Kachi, along with two lady staff was seen cleaning the roadside with a mission to clear the debris and other waste dumped along the Eastern Bypass road.
Kachi and his team of two women said they wanted the place to look bright as it was Diwali, the festival of light.
Goa Waste Management Committee (GWMC) has outsourced the cleaning job to KCIC as per Kachi.
A little chat with the women labourers and their supervisor revealed that they have been cleaning the road and other areas designated to them for the past few days, but more garbage is dumped by night, thus rendering their exercise futile.
Kachi said that the biggest nightmare his workwomen have to handle is hospital waste, used sanitary napkins, tender coconut shells, broken beverage bottles, household waste dumped in plastic bags, baby pampers etc.
It cannot be ruled out that residents of neighbouring villages are also dumping waste along the route. There is no vigilance of any sort nor is the area CCTVs monitored.
The Eastern Bypass is a major connection between Arlem and Navelim via Margao for cargo trucks, petroleum transporting tankers and other vehicles local or inter-State mostly moving further towards Karnataka. The thick canopy of bushes and wild monsoonal grass has not been cleared by either Margao Municipal Council (part of the neglected Ward. 21) or panchayat as it falls on the border between Margao and Davorlim.
And even as the cleanup has been initiated and welcome by both passersby and residents along the road, the general lament is that the Margao Town Traffic Police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) authorities still haven’t initiated action on scraped, dumped or abandoned vehicles along the same road even as Traffic Police are seen regularly stationed there issuing challans.
It’s time the local administration takes things seriously and clears the Eastern Bypass road of Margao and makes it safe for the road users, residents and passersby.
As for the garbage dumping, more vigilance and fining are expected of the authority in the days to come if civic sense and community living can be expected in Margao.
