Team Herald
VASCO: It appears that the efforts of the South Goa Collector to eradicate the garbage menace which has resulted in bird hits at Dabolim airport, have turned futile as despite stringent directions to the panchayats bodies from Mormugao Taluka, the situation on the ground has not improved.
Apparently, the sub-committee of the Dabolim Airport Environment Management Committee, which was formed to regularly monitor the garbage menace and submit a compliance report periodically, has also become defunct as one can still find garbage dumped all along the NH17-B road.
It may be recalled that former South collector Dr Sachin Shinde had asked the panchayats of Sancoale, Chicalim, and Velsao-Pale-Issorcim to come out with a solid waste management system. He had also asked them to identify spots that were prone to illegal dumping of garbage and to develop those areas.
The panchayats were also asked to maintain strict vigil in those areas and to install CCTV cameras and display banners, warning of heavy penalties against those found dumping garbage.
Police were given special instructions to intensify patrolling in all identified sites. Taking cognizance of the same, the panchayats initiated some steps and introduced door-to-door garbage collection.
However, all other directions remained unfulfilled, and the efforts that were initially put in by the authorities remained unproductive.
This was proved when Herald revisited all the sites identified by the panchayats from Mormugao. It was found that dumping of garbage is still going on at all such sites due to lack of proper monitoring and non-compliance of the order issued to the panchayats.
Herald contacted the new South Goa Collector Swapnil Naik and briefed him about the situation.
Naik has assured to look into the matter.
“If directions have been given, then surely that has to be complied with. I will ask my SDM to inquire into the matter and submit a report so that the garbage menace can be curbed completely. I will also call for another review meeting to seek explanations on why the directions were not fulfilled,” said Naik.
