TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Hotel and restaurant waste has once again found its way in the agricultural fields and along roadsides in the tourist village of Colva triggering protests by local villagers.
As news of the waste dumped in the cultivated fields spread, activists protested over the action of a restaurant, while demanding strict against the erring hotels.
The owner Antonio Fernandes said his family has been cultivating the fields for decades now, but lamented that dumping waste into the fields will only keep the farmers away from their traditional occupation. “If this trend of dumping garbage in cultivated fields continues, then there is a bleak future for agriculture in Colva”, he said, while demanding action from the Colva panchayat and the police against the unscrupulous elements. “We had recently built the bundh for water storage to irrigate the fields, but waste dumping may turn away many a farmer from agriculture”, he feared.
Another villager Elton Fernandes said the locals had recently caught red-handed a hotel while dumping waste in the locality, but no action has been forthcoming from any of the authorities.
“First the miscreants dumped waste near the sand dune and along the roadsides, and now in the fields. The panchayat and the ward member should initiate action against the guilty”, he demanded.
When contacted for his comments on the spate of waste dumping incidents in Colva village in open places in recent times, Colva Sarpanch Snowkon Gonsalves has expressed his helplessness in the matter. “No doubt, dumping waste in the open public places is a serious matter, but I do not know how the panchayat can curb the menace. I feel the Colva police should crack a whip against the erring hotels and contractors”, Snowkon said.
As news of the waste dumped in the cultivated fields spread, activists protested over the action of a restaurant, while demanding strict against
the erring hotels
