Team Herald
MARGAO: Armed with test reports obtained through an RTI application, a group of Margao residents have alleged that the systematic destruction of soil, environment, ecology and the ground water table in Margao was a government-sponsored initiative, involving agencies like the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) and the Margao Municipal Council (MMC).
On Friday, some prominent citizens including Candeth Castello, Adv Snehal Onskar, Jose Maria Miranda, and Maria do Carmo, Anthony Pereira, Damodar Onskar, Anthony Gonsalves and Savio Coutinho listed out details of the poisonous nature of the waste being dumped near the SGPDA Market in Fatorda.
Coutinho revealed that in response to an RTI application dated October 27, the GWMC has furnished the results of tests conducted on the waste lying inside the Sonsoddo shed/plant. The samples for testing were collected on November 1, after the RTI application was filed, he pointed out.
According to the reports, tests were conducted on one sample each of inert material and compost
obtained after ‘remediating’ waste at Sonsoddo, he added.
Coutinho told reporters that World Soil Day has just been celebrated, on December 5, and they received shocking information that GWMC and MMC have embarked on a mission to kill its citizens and future generations with poisonous materials, as dangerous as mercury.
“And as these agencies do the damage, the Goa State Pollution Control Board, prefers to be a mute and blind spectator,” he claimed.
“The GSPCB is regulating noise levels at a stringent 10 pm but are showing little or no interest in the injection of poisons into our soil, and eventually the ground water table. This will most certainly be a slow killer in the years ahead,” alleged Anthony Pereira.
The Citizens of Margao have called on the Minister for Environment Nilesh Cabral to address the matter, and questioned if the GSPCB was indeed tasked with protecting the environment, or if it would silently watch it be destroyed.
