Scrap yards on private and comunidade land in Cortalim, Quelossim and Sancoale could well turn Cortalim constituency into a hub for such unregulated yards.
A scrap yard on land belonging to the Sancoale and Cortalim comunidades that then South Goa Collector N D Agrawal had ordered demolished, and was removed, had sprung up again on Quelossim Comunidade land. Agrawal had directed then Administrator of Comunidades M S Barad to order the demolition, after this was brought to his notice by Herald.
According to sources, a tenant of the comunidade land had leased his tenanted farmland to the scrap yard and the comunidade committee members had remained silent on this.
A visit to the site revealed that apart from the scrap yard, there is a slum colony, cement blocks being manufactured and waste dumped on the land belonging to Quelossim Comunidade.
“I feel scared to come alone to my fields which are located along the scrap yard since there are too many migrants in the area. Worse, they burn medical items such as syringes which emanate a toxic smell,” says Seby Serrao, a local villager.
Despite efforts, President of Quelossim comunidade Anthony Vaz could not be contacted for comments on the issue.
However, Cortalim Panch and former deputy sarpanch Raymond De Sa said the panchayat had informed the Collector and Deputy Collector sometime in 2013 to initiate action in the matter, but nothing had happened. “Now, another letter will be issued to the scrap yard owners soon,” De Sa told Herald.
Referring to the scrap yards at Sancoale, former sarpanch and Panch Ramakant Borkar said the panchayat had, of late, not issued any permission to set up scrap yards.
“However at Zorint-Sancoale, the scrap yards which had come up in the late 1980s had been issued licences,” said Borkar. “However, no licences had been issued to those which had come up thereafter.”
Asked if these scrap yards had permissions from other authorities like the Goa State Pollution Control Board, Borkar replied, “These scrap yards will have to submit these documents.”
To another query on whether the proposal for a dedicated space, which the government had proposed, had been sanctioned, Borkar admitted that the proposal had not materialized yet.
However, a source informed Herald that there had been a meeting convened by the Directorate of Industries of the Joint Committee to recommend the registration of scrap yards in the jurisdiction of Mormugao taluka in 2011.
“This was to decide the applications received under Goa Waste (Scrap) Recycling Units Scheme 2010, which was addressed to all sarpanchas and other officials from Mormugao taluka,” said the source.
“However, nothing seems to have happened thereafter,” the source added.
When contacted, Cortalim MLA and Environment Minister Alina Saldanha said the process of removing scrap yards and hutments on Quelossim Comunidade land had been initiated. “I am personally looking into the matter,” Saldanha told Herald.
Cortalim Primary Health Centre Medical Officer Socorro Quadros said his office had not issued any health NOCs to the scrap yards, which is a mandatory requirement.
