TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Bowing to the sentiments of Nuvem villagers and farmers, the government has stopped using industrial slag for the Nuvem bypass land filling, but the decision is expected to scuttle government’s ambitious plan to dispose off mounds of industrial slag lying dumped in the industrial estates for road construction.
Work on the Nuvem bypass construction has resumed, but without the use of the industrial slag from Cuncolim. PWD Contractor Cleofacio Dias told Herald that work on the bypass has resumed, but asserted that he has stopped using the industrial slag as per the instructions from authorities. “The PWD had all permissions to use the industrial slag, but I have received instructions now not to use it keeping in mind sentiments of local farmers and villagers,” Dias said, adding that mud is now being used instead.
The PWD has also heaved a sigh of relief over the postponement of the Lusofonia Games, saying that the decision will give them ample time to complete work on the Nuvem bypass.
PWD’s decision, however, not to use the industrial slag for the Nuvem bypass land filing will throw all government’s plan to use slag for road construction haywire. Mounds of industrial slag have been lying abandoned at Cuncolim and other industrial estates across the state by steel and ferro alloy units. The exercise to dispose of the slag from the Cuncolim Industrial Estate had begun post the visit of Environment Minister Alina Saldanha. Acting on Alina’s instructions, the Goa State Pollution Control Board had tested samples of the slag and later directed the PWD officials to use the same for road embankments. “Sample testing of the slag left behind by steel units is not polluting. It was only after it was proved that the slag is non-polluting that permission was given to the PWD to use it for road embankments,” remarked GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha.
Incidentally, around 300 truck load of industrial slag from the Cuncolim Industrial Estate was used for road construction this month, but the exercise has been abandoned after Nuvem farmers and NGOs protested over its use.
