Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress has approached Goa Governor Dr Mridula Sinha seeking her intervention and direction to State government to drop the proposed expansion of Saligao garbage treatment plant in view of the strong objection raised by the people of Saligao and surrounding villages.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) General Secretaries Agnelo Fernandes and Adv Yatish Naik have also written to Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to immediately stop the expansion of the project, as “the affected villagers have not been taken into confidence.”
The content of both the letters are similar.
“Request to direct the State government to drop the proposed expansion of capacity of the Saligao-Calangute waste treatment plant from 100TPD to 250TPD in view of the genuine concerns and well founded reasons expressed by the people of Saligao and Calangute constituencies,” the letter stated.
“And more specifically, the villagers of Saligao, Pilerne-Marra, Candolim and surrounding areas, who are rightly opposing the said ill-conceived proposal of the State government,” the letter added.
The Congress leaders pointed out that the existing facility was set up at Saligao plateau despite opposition from the locals, who were promised by then chief minister (late) Manohar Parrikar on October 18, 2013 that the facility would cater to only two constituencies — Saligao and Calangute.
“All that is expected of the State government is to keep that promise made by Parrikar,” they said in the letter.
They further pointed out that the affected villagers, through their public agitations, have been complaining that the stench and foul smell emanating from the site of the plant is posing a hazard to their wellbeing while the dripping of latchet and the falling of off the garbage from the transporting trucks has been posing a nuisance.
They alleged that despite this, the government has high handedly taken the ill-conceived decision to enhance the capacity of the facility against the wishes of the people of the surrounding villages.
Alleging that the villagers were not taken into confidence by the government while granting approval for the expansion of the plant, Congressmen said, “This high handed approach of the government is antithetic to the spirit of deliberative democracy and strikes at the very root of the concept of participative planning process.”
