MAPUSA: Over the past few weeks, the Mapusa Municipal Council has collected a whopping Rupees five lakhs in fines imposed on people found dumping garbage across the town, mostly at night-time.
Addressing media persons on Saturday, Chairperson of the Mapusa Municipal Council Shubhangi Vaigankar said that different teams had been tasked with monitoring various ‘black spots’ for garbage over the past twenty nights. During this drive, the staff caught several offenders red-handed as they were dumping garbage in open spaces, under the cover of darkness.
CP Vaigankar said that on Friday night alone around forty people were caught red-handed and the Municipality collected around Rs 1 lakh in fines.
“Different teams were formed, consisting of engineers, municipal inspectors, supervisors and garbage collection staff, who have been monitoring these black spots for the last twenty days, during which we collected almost 5 lakhs in fines. Hundreds of people were caught disposing of their garbage on the streets and most of them were from the villages bordering Mapusa such as Canca, Assagao, Siolim, Bastora, Aldona and Guirim, among others,” said Chairperson Shubhangi Vaigankar said.
Vaigankar added that this drive will continue, and similar action will be initiated against offenders.
The major garbage dumping points are Ekta Nagar, Khorlim and Canca bandh near Asilo hospital.
“People come on their scooters, in their cars and even in rickshaws, with huge bags of garbage. We were shocked to find chicken waste in kilograms, and there were even people who came to dump animal faeces at these spots. Very few of them were from Mapusa, most of the offenders were from other villages,” said Vaigankar.
When questioned about the driver who was found transporting scrap waste material to the MRF site, the Chairperson said that they have already started inquiring into the matter and necessary action will be initiated. “It could also result in the termination of his job,” he added. He clarified that there are no receipts of challans or record of the funds with regards to the transportation of the scrap to the MRF site.
