ASMITA POLJI
asmita@herald-goa.com
PERNEM: September 2023 will mark four years since the lives of four young school students were snuffed out in a rain-filled laterite quarry at Tuem. In fact, last July, a Russian national met a similar end in a quarry at Ashvem. Despite these tragedies, the State government has done precious little to keep the killer pits in Pernem Taluka out of bounds for people who throng to them for the thrill of adventure.
The accident at Tuem had spurred the government to conduct a survey of such quarries, following which a tender was issued to get them barricaded. And, in what would have been a first for the State, the Water Resources Department (WRD), in consultation with the Goa State Biodiversity Board, was to carry out ‘bio-fencing’ of nine such abandoned laterite quarries in the Pernem Taluka. But the project, which entailed blocking access to the pits by planting trees or shrubs suitable to the area, has been sitting in cold storage while lives continue to be lost.
The local Mamlatdar’s office claimed that following the survey, it was the Public Works Department (PWD) that was directed to erect fences around all quarries, but work did not begin due to a paucity of funds.
“The PWD was asked to survey such pits and fence them,” said Pernem Deputy Collector Deepak Vaigankar.
“I was posted at Bicholim during that time and we had worked out a plan of action for quarries in that area. Now that I have been posted to Pernem, I will check whether a similar project was planned here and will initiate action,” he added.
During a trip to the quarry at Tuem, in the recent past, O Heraldo noticed a room constructed for security personnel. But the government appeared to have forgotten to hire such personnel even as the room lay vacant and people continued to visit the hazardous site.
The only hint of a warning is in the form of a signboard that the Tuem Village Panchayat has erected near the brimming quarry after getting exasperated by the government’s inaction.
“When the four school students lost their lives, it was an eye-opener for the authorities. But as time passed by, they failed to act. The pits remain death traps for people as well as animals,” former Tuem Sarpanch Uday Mandrekar, said.
Over 80 per cent of all laterite quarries still lie unfenced. As per the rules in force, miners are required to fill the pits with mud after they complete mining for laterite stones in a bid to prevent the accumulation of rainwater. They have, however, failed to adhere, leaving the gaping pits as an open invitation for death to anyone who ventures for a swim.
