CANACONA: Irked over the refusal of the Canacona municipality to collect wet garbage, tourism stakeholders have knocked on the door of local MLA.
The garbage strewn all around the roads and water bodies in Canacona is a burning issue amongst local population. And to add fuel to the fire, the municipality has stopped the collection of wet garbage from commercial establishments.
Therefore, the tourism stakeholders met the Canacona MLA on Tuesday at his Chaudi office and complained against the same.
The municipal authorities argue that CRZ and Pollution Control Board authorities have made it mandatory for all tourism business related activities to set up their own garbage treatment plant to dispose off the garbage generated by them.
However, Vikas Bhagat, the general secretary of an NGO named Goenkar which is in the forefront of the fight against garbage menace, argued that the commercial establishments need at least a year to set up a garbage treatment plant (GTP) and if at all they start one, the low voltage and erratic power supply would render it useless, creating more problems than any solution.
President of ‘Goenkar’ Jack Fernandes explained to the MLA that setting up of a GTP is not a lesser task and would need huge area for stocking and installing the machinery required. “As it is, there is scarcity of land in coastal areas of Canacona and the municipality has to cooperate with us and lift the wet garbage the way they were doing it earlier,” Fernandes emphasised.
With tourism activities already in pick season, the members present fervently appealed to the MLA to help them in clearing heaps of garbage thrown along the road sides.
