TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has finally received nearly 250 applications from shack operators seeking the Consent to Operate under the Air and Water Pollution (Control) Acts. The Consents to Operate has been made mandatory by the National Green Tribunal and GSPCB has been making sustained efforts to convince shack operators to file the applications since the start of the tourist season.
Since Friday, the Board had launched a special drive along the coastal belt – at Candolim, Calangute, Majorda and Betalbatim – trying to convince shack operators to apply for the Consent to Operate failing which their units would have to be shut down from the next tourist season.
Altogether 250 Consent to Operate applications were received by the Board. Nearly 206 shack operators from Calangute and Candolim applied for the consent which will be granted for a one-year period.
In all 370 shacks have been granted permission to operate along the coast, with a majority of these located in Candolim (166) and Calangute (106).
GSPCB has to submit a compliance report on the Consent to Operate granted to various small and micro enterprise units including shacks, to the NGT by February 14. Despite GSPCB sending several reminders there had been a very poor response from the shack operators, until now.
With NGT declaring the operation of all small and micro enterprise units without Consent to Operate as “illegal”, the Board had issued show cause notices to 2,343 industries and 2,624 hotels to apply for the consent.
After the start of the tourism season last year, the Board had also initiated a special drive along the beach belt, making shacks and eatery operators aware of the need to obtain the consent.
