Scrap-yard fire causes panic in Benaulim
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 20
Fire services pressed the panic button on Saturday noon after thick black smoke began billowing from a scrap yard at Pulvaddo Benaulim giving the impression that the adjoining Margao city is affected by a major fire.
The Colva police later this evening arrested one Arjun Chawan under section 41 of the CrPC for setting the waste on fire.
Fire tenders rushed to Benaulim village following calls from the residents, only to realize that the smoke was emanating from a scrap yard at Benaulim near Khareband bridge.
Residents called for the fire services after thick black smoke created a fear psychosis, but inquires later revealed that the cable wires were set afire in the scrap yard.
Fire officer Gill D’Souza, who came to the spot, said the huge smoke billowing from the scrap yard, gave an impression about the major inferno in the area. “Our inquiries have revealed that the black smoke was a result of burning of cable wires in the scrap yard. The wires were burnt apparently to extract metal”, he added.
The incident once again drew sharp reaction from the residents of Benaulim, who have been battling against disposal of garbage and other waste in the locality.
Roque Fernandes informed that broken glasses, unused tube lights and other material has been dumped in the river Sal by unscrupulous scrap dealers and demanded a stop to the activity. “The ground reality is that the residents cannot even enter the River Sal because of the disposal of bottles and other waste along the banks”, he added.
Sadly, the residents have charged the Colva police for doing little to stop the indiscriminate disposal of waste in the village, be it a Pedda or on the road leading to St John the Baptist Church.
Residents claimed that though they have alerted the Colva police in the past on garbage disposal along sides, they had come at the receiving end of the men-in-uniform instead of cracking a whip against the unscrupulous garbage contractors and hotel and restaurant owners.
Scrap-yard fire causes panic in Benaulim
MARGAO, NOV 20 Fire services pressed the panic button on Saturday noon after thick black smoke began billowing from a scrap yard at Pulvaddo Benaulim giving the impression that the adjoining Margao city is affected by a major fire.
