CUNCOLIM: Irked with the government turning a Nelson’s eye to the vexed issue of pollution caused by the factories at Cuncolim Industrial Estate, agitated people have now knocked on the doors of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
A local Vijay Prabhu, who has been raising the issue for quite some time now, has now written to the Secretary General of NHRC directly accusing the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) of abdicating its responsibility.
Prabhu stated that the GSPCB has failed to control the “deadly pollution caused by the fish meal plants and steel plants in the industrial estate.”
Further, he stated that residents of Cuncolim have been facing this problem for the last two decades and added that their woes have worsened in the last four months with environmental degradation increasing only because of negligence by the GSPCB.
The noxious odour indicates the air pollution caused by the fish meal plants and steel plants there, he said.
In his letter he argued that this amounts to depriving people the right to breathe fresh air.
Prabhu further alleged that GSPCB chairman Mahesh Patil has failed to take action against the fish meal plants even though it was established that they were dumping their effluents illegally in a bore well dug within their premises without any authorisation from government authorities.
“The people of Cuncolim are denied their fundamental right to a clean environment due to the negligence of GSPCB and other government agencies,” he said in his complaint.
Prabhu asked the Commission to initiate an inquiry into this mess and provide justice to the local people by preserving their right to breathe clean air.
