MARGAO: Locals from various villages across Nuvem constituency have reiterated their opposition to the proposed 250+ 20% TPD Solid Waste Management (SWM) plant that the State government intends to set up on the Verna plateau.
The villagers, who have been opposing this SWM plant, which is slated to cater to the garbage of 39 villages and three municipalities of the entire South Goa District, have demanded that the project be scrapped as it would push the Verna plateau and its surrounding villages to the brink of disaster. Nagoa resident John Philip Pereira added that as of now they had filed an RTI asking for the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of this SWM plant.
“When we contacted the committee that gives the EIA, they informed us that they have not issued the clearance because they have asked for certain queries to be clarified by the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC),” said Pereira.
“We are yet to receive information on the present status of the matter,” he added.
When asked if they will knock on the court’s doors for relief if they are not satisfied with the government’s response, or if the government goes ahead with the project, Pereira replied, “We will definitely be approaching the court.”
Pereira added that the Verna Industrial Estate is already overburdened with numerous industries which have polluted the air and ground water.
The villagers criticised the abdication of responsibility of government agencies and departments like the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), Water Resources Department and Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) in this matter.
They asserted that there can be no justification for Nuvem constituency to bear the garbage burden of the entire district since decentralised garbage management is being carried out by the respective village panchayats, as mandated by the Supreme Court.
Another local, Ramiro Mascarenhas, added that the villagers are worried about the potential pollution impact of the plant on River Sal, Goa’s only indigenous river, which originates in Verna.
“If the project becomes a reality, the trucks that transport the garbage from various locations to the SWM plant will spew leachate, garbage fragments and create a stench while plying on the village roads,” Mascarenhas added. The locals recalled that the people of Saligao constituency are already facing similar issues and that the Saligao SWM plant is also managed by the GWMC, which will manage the Verna facility.
Pereira called on stakeholders to check if the SWM project comes within the air funnel of Dabolim airport given the perpendicular distance between the airport and the industrial estate. He also questioned how the pharma industries at Verna would react to having a SWM plant at the estate, polluting their shared environment.
