MARGAO: In a bid to resolve the illegal dumping of garbage on the roads leading to the Sonsoddo dump yard, the villagers of Raia have urged their newly constituted panchayat body to replace the damaged and obsolete CCTV cameras at the spot with high-quality equipment, at the earliest.
Raia Sarpanch Judas Quadros told Herald that he would deliberate on the issue at the first monthly meeting. Herald has discovered that two of the six CCTV cameras installed at Sonsoddo were damaged due to fire incidents, while the remaining four cameras struggle to monitor the illegal dumping of waste on the street, which usually occurs under the cover of darkness.
“The dumping of garbage along the roads leading to Raia and Curtorim has created a nuisance at the site for years. Even chicken and medical waste are being dumped on the roadside here, with no concern for the health hazards,” said Peter Fernandes, a resident of Raia.
It is not the duty of the panchayat alone, but even locals need to be vigilant to prevent the pollution of their village, he added.
“The present scenario indicates that the installation of CCTV cameras has helped reduce the menace to some extent, but the panchayat needs to fix high-quality cameras, to help trace and take action against the culprits,” urged Seby Dias, another villager.
“The first monthly executive meeting of the newly constituted panchayat body will be held in the next week, during which I will take up the issue of new CCTV cameras to be installed near the Sonsoddo site,” Quadros told Herald.
“The previous panchayat body had completed almost all formalities in order to replace the old cameras with high-quality ones,” said former Sarpanch and present panch member Minguelina D’Souza, who is optimistic that the CCTV footage will help them catch trouble-makers who dump their garbage on the streets at night.
