Garbage is being burnt right inside the Dumane Garbage Treatment plant with CMC denying the activity, but a journo’s photographic evidence says it all
A high compound wall protected by an iron gate and another iron gate cordoning off the approach road to the site gives one the impression that the Dumane Garbage Treatment Plant is protected from unauthorized dumping of garbage, besides preventing miscreants at the plant.
But what actually transpires inside the well-secured compound walls of the Dumane Garbage Treatment plant, set up at an approximate cost of Rs 1 crore by Canacona Municipal Council (CMC), is troublesome for any health-conscious person. Garbage is clandestinely being burnt right inside the compound and ashes are allegedly disposed off by the municipal council itself.
It may be recalled that the treatment plant, overloaded with tonnes of untreated garbage, reportedly caught fire. The unsegregated garbage was shifted in tipper trucks and was buried across the railway track at Gulem.
While the CMC alleges that fire in the nearby cashew plantations spread to the garbage inside the plant, fire fighters at the site observed that the fire was lit on purpose and it was impossible for the fire from outside to have penetrated the strong compound walls.
In a bid to prevent miscreants from entering the area, CMC went on to erect an iron gate at the entrance to the temporary road leading to the garbage treatment plant. CMC also fenced a few traditional pathways to secure the plant compound from illegal garbage dumping.
However, if local residents and several motorists are to be believed, strong odour of burnt garbage has engulfed the area in the morning since the last many days, while smoke has also been noticed from the garbage treatment plant.
“Gaining entry to the treatment plant without CMC’s knowledge is impossible as free access has been blocked,” remarked a source.
However, this correspondent gained access through some thick vegetation only to find that four men were conveniently setting on fire heaps of garbage at the treatment plant.
It is learnt that the garbage accumulated in small heaps right inside the compound is regularly put on fire every morning.
When contacted, CMC Chief Officer Pradeep Naik denied the activity and when presented with photographic evidence, he feigned ignorance. “If it’s true, I will see that such a practice is immediately stopped, as it is not in conformity with disposal of garbage.”
When informed, CMC Chairperson Ajay Bhagat also took strong objection to the practice of burning garbage and directed CMC staff to stop the controversial method of disposing garbage.
