Since the last ten days the officials of Mormugao taluka administration as well as politicians have been grappling to find out solution to tackle the garbage menace, especially near the airport area. Even a set of directions has been issued to the panchayats within the jurisdiction to keep the area clean so as to reduce bird hit cases and to keep stray dogs at bay.
Ironically, the garbage dumped under the flight path has skipped the attention of the panchayat and other the concerned authorities as aircraft landing at Dabolim airport face a serious threat. It is important to note that in the past, on several occasions, Herald had raised the issue of mushrooming of shanties right under the flight path and the garbage dumped at the site. After each news report, the authorities did swing into action, but situation never improved. Today, one can still find heaps of garbage littered under the flight path and to make matters worse, few new shanties resurfaced at the site. Surprisingly, these 8-10 labourers, who are natives of Maharashtra, have been occupying these shanties since last few days. They are unaware of the fact that the food that they cook under the flight path and the garbage which they dump at the site could lead to a serious disaster. Herald questioned these workers about their experiences on residing in these shanties that too right under the flight path.
“We have come down to Goa for some soil testing work. Since this area was seen open I asked my workers to install the shanties. We cook our food here and until our work gets completed we are going to reside here. Besides the view, one thing that we like here is to see the flight landings and that too so close. Many times we feel that the flight is passing just above our head”, Subhash Wankhede, a labour supervisor present at the site informed Herald.Likewise Wankhede, his other workers are also unaware of the consequences of their actions. However, they were very happy to live at the flight path to watch the aircraft landings. The concerned authorities have turned their blind eye to the presence of illegal shanties and garbage dumped in the area. They have even violated the instructions issued by the South Goa Collector. Since the issue is of utmost importance especially when considering the safety of flights, Herald did raise the issues of garbage menace and shanties installed right under the flight path before Mormugao Deputy Collector Mahadev Arundekar. He too felt that the situation is alarming and assured to initiate action to solve the issue permanently.“Yes this is something very serious as what we can see in the picture is garbage littered and this could cause bird hits and stray dog menace. I will instruct the panchayat and Mamlatdar to take immediate steps to clear the garbage from the flight path,” assured Arundekar.
Panchayat Minister and Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho said, “I will inspect the site tomorrow and will issue all necessary directions so that there should not be any garbage under the flight path and even in other areas near the airport.”
