NAVIN JHA
AROSSIM: Although South Goa Collector Swapnil Naik confirmed to Herald on Monday that the much-awaited crane service, which would be used to shift machinery and equipment to Arossim beach for salvaging the grounded pontoon, would arrive latest by Wednesday, the crane has not yet arrived.
Investigations by Herald revealed that the crane from Mumbai will arrive only on Friday evening or latest by Saturday morning, and only then the salvage operations will begin. This means that the 10-day deadline issued by Naik to Arihant Ship Breakers will not be met, as even if the company starts work on Friday evening, completing the salvage operations in three days is next to impossible, and the same will continue till June 10.
Speaking to Herald on condition of anonymity, Arihant staff confirmed that the crane would arriving either on Friday evening or Saturday morning, and only then the salvage team, including a team of 22 expert labourers who have been camping at Arossim beach for the last few days, will begin the work.
“The delay is due to some transport restriction. The vehicle that is bringing the crane is very big and cannot move on the road during daytime. Also, there are some other hiccups, like the approach road to Arossim beach, which is narrow. Bringing such big vehicles close to the beach won’t be an easy task. We have been surveying the route by which the vehicle can be brought to beach, and the moment the crane is made available, we will start our work,” Arihant staff told Herald.
Interestingly, Naik has believed what the owners of Arihant Ship Breakers have been maintaining on the removal of the grounded pontoon, and that is why the deadlines have been changing with every passing day.
Also, if we look at Naik’s order issued on May 20, Arihant Ship Breakers had clearly been ordered to remove the grounded vessel within 10 days and that too by complying with 12 conditions. However, Naik recently stated, “Pulling of the grounded pontoon will happen before the monsoons arrive. Once they pull the pontoon on the beach, the rest of the work will happen. The pontoon owner is maintaining the schedule for now.”
In the present scenario, the schedule apparently has not been maintained at all. This has irked the Cansaulim Villagers’ Action Committee (CVAC), which has now decided to take up the case before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune bench, very aggressively.
“We have other business to do, but still we are rigorously following up the issue. We have already started preparations to approach the NGT on the pontoon issue as things have been delayed beyond the deadlines set by the State administration. We also feel that the State administration has been going very soft on the pontoon owner, and that is why the owner has been working as per his own convenience and not according priority to remove the vessel. To our bad luck, even our panchayat is not performing its duties and is least bothered about initiating action against the pontoon owner,” said CVAC spokesperson Simon D’Souza.
