CUNCOLIM
Cuncolim Municipal Council (CMC) is one among a few municipalities in Goa which has introduced an effective door to door garbage system and also put their garbage treatment plant to use. It was during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress government that the plant was installed and the garbage collection system set up.
It was always a dream of the council to make it a bin free and beautiful city but due to the lack of proper response from locals, this dream never quite took flight. The garbage treatment plant was inaugurated on October 2, 2010 and the collection system was put into place in the very same year. Former MLA, Joaquim Alemao was also the Urban Development Minister at the time. But following that, things just went from bad to worse.
Segregation of garbage at the source is important for effective treatment and despite the council providing free bins to every house, no one segregated the garbage. Very few concerned citizens segregated garbage but the workers involved with collection of the same dumped all the garbage in the same bin, rendering the segregation useless. The council employed about 20 labourers and contract workers to collect the garbage.
Cuncolim might be the only municipality in Goa that has a well-equipped landfill site but the council has failed to implement the Solid Waste Management Act. Locals dump garbage by the side of the road, making the situation worse.
There are also complaints by locals that the workers aren’t collecting garbage on regularly. The CMC has levied a garbage tax for commercial and domestic garbage as they accuse locals of not co-operating to make the city garbage free and must look into the functioning of the treatment plant.
Councillors must take a keen interest in raising awareness among citizens regarding segregation and must take strict action against those who dump garbage by the road side.
In the act, there is a provision to fine those who dump garbage in the open. As of now, Cuncolkars aren’t facing a garbage threat but at the same time, the council must be vigilant to keep a check on those creating a mess in the city. There is a need to organise Nagarsabhas and spread sensitisation among locals. The coming council must prioritise the garbage issue.
QUEPEM
The Quepem Municipal Council has recently introduced door to door garbage which works smoothly. The QMC has employed 20 workers for collection of garbage and for the working of the treatment plant on a contract basis.
The council is spending Rs 3 lakh per month on wages for the workers besides paying the contractor. They have engaged 5 mini trucks and one compactor for the collection. The price for garbage collection is Rs 36 per house and Rs 1800 per commercial establishment.
The QMC also have their own treatment plant which is functioning in full swing. The QMC however, also face a segregation issue like the CMC and are trying hard to make Quepem clean.
The council has distributed two bins to every household and have requested citizens to segregate garbage but the lack of following this practice is what is causing issues in the system. To counteract this, the QMC is planning to start an awareness program. Like the CMC, QMC also faces the problem of people dumping garbage by the side of the road. Despite the efforts of the council, people continue to do this and it gives the city an ugly face.
