Team Herald
MARGAO: Loutolim Panchayat has fined five companies including a Government of India undertaking for dumping their waste in an open space in the village instead of disposing it in a proper manner as prescribed under the Swacch Bharat movement.
While three companies are involved in food manufacturing, the government undertaking is none other than Goa Shipyard Ltd that undertakes works for the Defence ministry and is situated at Vasco yet its waste was found in Loutolim.
The can of worms was exposed when some vigilant citizen complained about it to the Goa State Pollution Control Board who carried out a cursory inspection and accordingly informed the Loutolim panchayat about what was happening.
At the panchayat body meeting on August 27, this matter was taken up on priority and the members there and then decided to inspect the site and were shocked to see the amount of garbage that was dumped there but hidden from the public by the bushes growing by the road side.
Loutolim Sarpanch Filipinha Fernandes informed they found evidence that most of the paper waste was from Goa Shipyard Ltd while there were cake boxes from Montana and Monginis and food packets from Goan Food.
The same afternoon at around 1 pm Goa State Pollution Control board officials along with BDO Salcete and Mormugao inspected the site again and scientist Connie Fernandes called up Goa Shipyard Officials and immediately summoned them to the site and berated them for being so irresponsible.
However, the Shipyard officials argued that they have appointed a contractor to collect their waste and dispose it in collaboration with Mormugao Municipal Council and said they will have to discuss with the contractor how their waste landed in Loutolim.
Connie also directed the panchayat to issue notices and fine the other people who had dumped their garbage there resulting in maggots crawling all over the place and an obnoxious smell prevailing there.
Accordingly the panchayat issued notices to the four companies and by afternoon a representative of Monginis visited the panchayat to pay the fine of Rs. 25,000.
