Calangute: The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) in a complaint to the Goa chief secretary, environment department, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), State Biodiversity Board and other authorities on Tuesday has demanded that an environment audit be conducted of the sewerage treatment plant (STP) at Baga, claiming that it continues to release raw sewage into the Baga river even after the village panchayat had asked them to stop operations last week.
After allegations by locals in Baga that raw sewage was being released by the STP in the Baga river, the Calangute panchayat had conducted a site inspection of the STP last week and asked the management to shut down operations after it was found to be operating without consent-to-operate from the GSPCB.
“Although the panchayat has asked the STP management to stop operations immediately, the management of the STP is not serious on the said issue,” the CCF stated in the complaint.
CCF members said when they visited the plant after the panchayat inspection, they found sewage being released through a ditch and a pipe into the Baga river. They also stated that the GSPCB had sometime ago conducted a site inspection of the Baga river following complaints from the Calangute panchayat and the Arpora-Nagoapanchayat that hotels and resorts were releasing raw sewage into the river and found the water to be polluted.
The CCF has demanded that the authorities “check the pollution of the river water on priority and stop the operation of the STP to control further damage to the environment as the STP releasing raw sewage will further pollute the river.”
