The mini commercial hub of the capital city — Patto — continues to be engulfed in the foul odour of wet untreated waste as office goers, public as well as residents in the vicinity are complaining of the stink.
Residents of Fontainhas, St Tome, Mala, Cortim and office goers at the EDC Patto complex are breathing foul air for the past one decade. All thanks to the mismanagement by the City Corporation of Panaji (CCP) in failing to treat the wet waste, despite the facility behind Hera Petrol Pump being commissioned just recently.
It was in 2007, when CCP started a garbage dumping and treatment facility at Patto behind the LIC office. It was followed by a wet waste treatment plant in close proximity to the Central Library. The plant worth Rs 2 crore was set up in 2012, with a capacity to handle 20 tonnes a day and taking care of the bulk of the wet waste produced by residents, hotels and restaurants in the city.
The nuisance has affected the living conditions of the people in the surrounding areas as well as employees working in the offices at EDC plaza.
“We cannot inhale fresh air. The foul smell is haunting us for several years and nobody understands the situation we are in,” Anita Govekar, a clerk working in an office at Gera Emporium told Herald.
She was supported by another employee at LIC who claimed they are not only ‘welcomed by heaps of garbage but also bad smell.’ “Imagine what would be our condition during lunch and tea breaks? After repeated complaints, we had respite from the bad stench but only for a short period, and we are back to the same old story. It’s a pathetic situation we are in,” she said refusing to be named as she is a government employee.
Incidentally, the Patto Plaza also houses a few restaurants while the temporary inter-state bus stand and a few schools are also located in close proximity to the site.
With the Bridge over Rua De Ourem connecting Mala to Patto coming as relief to many commuters, they have to also bear the stink. One such commuter shared his experience stating, “I use this route to drop my child to school (before the summer vacation) and for summer camp to Panjim. We are greeted by the bad smell every time we cross this route. On one hand we have huge traffic from the other route, the other side there is garbage stink. But we are helpless expect for pleading the authorities to tackle the situation at the earliest,” Anand Mainkar, a resident of St Cruz said.
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) had issued notices to CCP regarding the plant for creating environment problems in the past. The first notice was served in 2007, another in 2011 and 2014, directing the corporation to stop dumping garbage at Patto to avoid any stink inconveniencing residents of the area. The CCP, in its reply, assured that it would shift the facility behind the Heera Petrol pump.
CCP had, in 2009, identified the area behind the Heera petrol pump for segregation and treatment. The site was mired in controversy after some of the then corporators, the Botanical Society of Goa (BSG) and civil right groups opposed the proposed development, claiming that the facility would be in an area marked as No Development Zone in the outline development plan or ODP 2011. CCP thereafter managed to get clearances under CRZ and from GSPCB for setting up the unit, and got it commissioned around six months back.
