MARGAO: In an act of brazen disregard for public health, raw sewage from septic tanks located behind Margao’s KTC Bus Stand, and wastewater from the bio-methanation plant at the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) market was released into the open fields in the area, leaving residents and shoppers disgusted at the stench in the market area early Sunday morning.
What’s worse is that it appears this is being done intentionally. A visit to the spot revealed that a pipe has been connected to the sewage chamber, allowing untreated septic waste from the Sulabh toilet nearby to be discharged directly into the open fields.
Citizens are understandably outraged, especially after Saturday’s fire at the KTC waste dump on
the same stretch, which raised serious questions about waste management in the area.
Iftiyaz Sayed, a local resident, spoke to reporters and expressed his anger at the authorities for allowing such a ‘nuisance’ in the area. “This is being done deliberately, as they don’t care about the citizens, and they don’t care about the environment,” he fumed, pointing out that the town’s faulty sewerage system was earlier pulled up for discharging septic waste into River Sal.
“This is a complete collapse in the system, and it’s causing destruction to biodiversity and putting
the health of all passers-by and residents at stake,” he added.
With hundreds of people visiting the SGPDA market every day, the potential for a public health disaster is very real.
The bio-methanation plant at the market processes tonnes of waste daily, and the leachate is also being released into the field.
A worker at the Sulabh toilet told O Heraldo that their septic tanks have been overflowing for a long time. “The septic tanks are in dire need of cleaning and repair, and that is why they have been overflowing,” he said.
