The Colva Village panchayat has been pulled up and criticized by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) regarding the pollution caused by the stalls during the Colva Fama feast and issued directions under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
The secretary of the panchayat has been asked to submit a detailed compliance report within 15 days failing which the board has said it will be compelled to initiate legal action against the panchayat and the copy of the notice has been forwarded to the director of panchayats as well.
GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said that the directions were issued under section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to the secretary of the panchayat and that a copy of the complaint report of the inspection and analysis report has been attached along with the notice.
The notice states that GSPCB was in receipt of a complaint dated October 19 from Judith Almeida, secretary of Colva Civic and Consumer Forum regarding illegal litter of garbage and burning in the village of Colva every year during the 10 days of the Fama festival in the village causing pollution of the fresh water sources. In this regard, officials of the board conducted inspection of the site and water samples were collected.
During the site inspection it was observed that the stalls were removed but waste alongside the road was not cleared, but waste alongside the road was not cleared and that chemical toilets were not provided during the festival. It was also observed that plastic waste was seen burnt causing air pollution and that mixed waste was seen thrown in the water body by the bridge thereby polluting the water. Furthermore, the inspection report stated that the stall owners defecate in the morning near the internal roads of Infant Jesus High school and near the cemetery causing foul stench and pollution.
Based on this, the pollution control board issued 5 directions to the village panchayat of Colva. The first was that prior to giving permissions for setting up of the stalls, the panchayat should enforce strict rules on use of plastic bags and disposal of the same. “A solid waste collection system should be set up and it should be the duty of the village panchayat for collection of waste,” read the notice.
The next two directions was that the vendors should be encouraged to use cloth paper bags for sale of their items and that bins should be laid at close distances for disposal of waste along the entire road length for which the stalls are installed.
“Awareness should be created prior to comply with the rural garbage disposal scheme and to rectify the non compliance as observed in the inspection report dated October 16,” read the notice.
The final direction was for the panchayat to collect the dry waste, segregate and sent to the solid waste management cell of Department of Science and Technology for the further disposal.
It may be recalled that the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum had raised this issue at the gram sabha preceding the 10 day fair.
