Team Herald
VASCO: Illegal scrap yards have been mushrooming in Sancoale village and surrounding areas, posing a threat to public health and environment. However, despite several complaints by the public and concerned citizens, the authorities seem to be dragging their feet in taking action against the illegalities.
Sancoale villagers complained that initially there were few scrap yards in the village and that number has increased manifolds in the last few years; and in guise of scrap yard business some of the scrap dealers have been scrapping vehicles, without following stipulated norms laid down by the State transport department.
“In name of scrap collection, some scrap yard dealers have been scrapping vehicles without cancelling the registration certificate of the vehicles. This issue needs to be addressed as there have been numerous cases of motorcycle/ car thefts which have not been detected so far by the police. Even the police do not rule out the possibility of scrap dealers’ involvement in scrapping stolen vehicles. But still there has been no efforts made to ensure that these scrap dealers who have been operating illegally should at least follow norms before scrapping of vehicles,” said Pratik Naik, a Sancoale resident.
Herald investigation revealed that 18 scrap yards have been operating in the Sancoale without permission. While some accept household items to remove plastics and other parts of electronic gadgets, some are dealing with industrial scrap, some with paper and cartoon boxes or glass bottles etc. Shockingly, these scrap yards and especially the scrap yards located in the private industrial area opposite Sancoale IDC have no proper waste disposal system in place.
Some of them have been releasing waste water including e-waste into the fields below thereby contributing to the pollution.
Similarly, to remove copper scrap from electrical waste including PVC insulated wires/cables, these scrap dealers have been burning PVC wires leading to severe and hazardous air pollution in the area.
A social activists from Mormugao taluka said that he had complained against the operation of illegal scrap yards near Sancoale IDC as well as in the properties located alongside NH17B connecting Varunapuri junction to Verna, but all his complaints fell on deaf ears as no action was initiated.
“I had pointed out that, besides being a public nuisance, these scrap yards posed a threat people living in the area as they have been handling all sorts of scrap including e-waste. However, no action is forthcoming till date, even as the number of scrap yards in Sancoale and other neighboring areas have increased,” said Preetam Keluskar
Interestingly, many of these scrap yards have been handling industrial waste and there are high possibilities that such hazardous handling of scrap (near Sancoale IDC) and that too close to Birla Zuarinagar residential area could pose serious threat to human lives.
