MARGAO: There was a major furore at the entrance of the Verna Industrial Estate when locals from Verna, Loutolim and Nagoa found a tanker that was discharging slurry waste into a nullah that flows out into the Nagoa paddy fields.
The furious locals tried to confront the driver of the tanker who ran away but the helper remained behind, and he confirmed what the tanker was doing.
The locals also found a pipe from the tanker and immediately called various authorities such as the police, Goa Industrial Estate Corporation, Verna Industries Association (VIA), etc.
Later in the day, Nagoa Sarpanch Gabriel Fernandes filed official complaints with the Verna police, Cortalim Primary Health Centre, Salcete Deputy Collector, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), Goa Waste Management Corporation and GIDC.
Fernandes said that the discharged slurry contained various types of septic waste, and similar incidents were occurring in other nullahs in the Verna Industrial Estate.
“We would request you to kindly register an offence and take strict action on the owner of the tanker, and the culprits who are doing this dangerous activity against the environment . If this continues, we are afraid that the slurry/septic waste will reach the villages and nearby fields as these spots are catchment areas of IDC,” he said in his complaint.
Activist John Philip Pereira also warned of the ground water getting contaminated and said this would be a problem for the pharmaceutical companies who draw water from the bore wells. He also said Verna is one the sources of River Sal and so the River too would get polluted and called on GSPCB to investigate the matter.
He also called for a monitoring mechanism for such tankers, to record the location where they dispose of their slurry and septic waste.
