GSPCB, IDC chided for overlooking contamination in quarry
TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: This abandoned quarry inside the Cuncolim Industrial Estate was apparently earmarked for a landfill site to take care of hazardous waste generated in a chemical factory.
It has now come in handy for unscrupulous factories to discharge untreated effluents, contaminating the water body, right under the nose of the Industrial Development Corporation and other authorities. Believe it or not, the stone quarry is full to the brim with untreated waste water flowing from the factories, including processing industries.
A visit to the industrial estate revealed a frightening scenario. Thick, stagnant black colour water has filled up the quarry, emitting foul odour. Locals have complained of breathing difficulties when they come close to it. Even when a Herald team visited the spot, they found water gushing inside the quarry from all directions.
Locals believe that the effluents must be flowing inside the quarry not from a single unit, but from the factories adjoining the body.
What’s surprising to note is that the contamination of the quarry has not come to the notice of the IDC officials and staff monitoring the Cuncolim Industrial Estate. The Goa State Pollution Control Board says it has not received any information or complaint from any quarter on the contamination of the stone quarry.
The situation has triggered outrage amongst Cuncolim villagers. Says social activist and Cuncolim resident, Dr Jorson Fernandes: “What we are witnessing at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate is not something new. The citizens believe that the IDC is silent and the Pollution Control Board cannot see pollution. This has to stop immediately and the unscrupulous owners brought to book. There was a time when these stone quarries inside the estate were storage points for fresh water. They are all polluted today”.
President of Cuncolim Citizens Committee Oscar Martins demanded immediate action by the Goa State Pollution Control Board against the polluters. “How can water in the stone quarry turn black without outside effluents contaminating the same. We have been opposing some processing industries since they were highly polluting. The government, however, turned a deaf ear on political considerations,” he said, while demanding immediate inspection and testing of the water samples to ascertain the extent of pollution.
