CALANGUTE: Following demands from beach shack owners, the Calangute panchayat has acquired a Rs 35 lakh tractor to collect sewage from beach shacks starting this season.
“It is because of sewage that beach shacks had been sealed in April in the last season causing a lot of difficulties for shack owners. We had promised to provide a tractor to collect sewage from beach shacks and today we have fulfilled our promise,” sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said on Friday.
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A High Court order in April had resulted in most beach shacks being sealed because of the absence of consent-to-operate from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) after they were found disposing off their toilet waste in illegal soak pits or in the open or sea.
As it was not feasible for them to use night soil tankers, shack owners had demanded that the panchayat should make a provision to collect the toilet waste water. Following this, the Calangute panchayat in a resolution in April had decided to collect the sewage from beach shacks from the new tourism season in October. “The Calangute panchayat resolves to collect ‘waste water’ from all temporary shacks within the jurisdiction of Calangute village with a trolley and tank having a capacity of 5,000 ltrs. The waste water will be transported to the sewerage treatment plant approved by the state government in panchayat night soil tanker having a volume capacity of 8,000ltrs.”
The Calangute-Candolim beach-belt has around 200 beach shacks, with around 125 in Calangute. The Candolim panchayat has also decided to collect sewage from beach shacks.
