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PANJIM: The Old Goa Village Panchayat has demanded the scrapping of the proposed solid waste management (SWM) facility at Bainguinim, warning that locals will initiate an agitation if the government goes ahead with
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the proposal.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Old Goa Sarpanch Medha Parvatkar along with other panchayat members and villagers, said that the opposition to the SWM plant has been ongoing
since 2002.
“We don’t want the plant and have been opposing it since 2002. There is the World Heritage site at Old Goa with its churches. There are temples and mutts, four schools, and a hospital. We fear that the plant will lead to pollution,” Parvatkar said.
Panchayat member Ambar Amonkar said that in the public hearings held for the proposal, more than 90 per cent of the people had expressed their opposition against the plant. He also said that local MLA Rajesh Faldessai will not back out, despite party pressure.
“The area, which is Kadamba plateau where the plant is proposed, is the fastest growing, and is even called by some as Upper Panjim. The proposed site is at the top of the geological ecosystem. It will cause problems like water
contamination, heritage destruction, and destruction of eco-sensitive zones. People living in the areas at the foot of the plateau will be
affected,” Amonkar said.
He also pointed out that there is a discrepancy in the March 2024 gazette notification on the plant. The government itself is not clear whether it is 100-tonne plant or 250 tonnes. Hence, the whole plan has to be scrapped,” Amonkar said.
Four-time panchayat member and former sarpanch Vinayak Fadte said that the site for the plant was being opposed even before
he became a panchayat
member.
“We have seen how the people of Saligao within a radius of 5-km of the waste treatment plant there are suffering. The government should instead decentralise such plants. Instead of building Rs 500-crore plants at Verna and Bainguinim, a plant in each constituency will cost Rs 25 crore,”
Fadte added.
