Situated close to the State’s capital city, Santa Cruz has the essence of a typical Goan village. The old Portuguese-era houses and structures take you back in time while the village is bustling with activity.
The name Santa Cruz has been derived from two words Santa, which means Holy and Cross respectively. The village has 11 wards and is considered to be one of the largest villages in Goa.
However, far from being the model village, Santa Cruz village faces many problems and it appears that the will to solve these issues is lacking. Be it, waste management, water, power, infrastructure etc, there’s a lot that needs to be done at the earliest.
Garbage problem
Certain parts in the village are strewn with garbage as people carelessly toss their waste by the roadside. Village people come and throw garbage wherever they find a place. This, even though the panchayat of Santa Cruz has put a notice board warning against it along with information about the fines for committing the offence. However questions have been raised as to why these areas have not been cleaned and if the work ends with just displaying notice boards.
Moreover, garbage can be seen on the side of the internal roads, in the bushes and sometimes it finds its way to the main road as well.
The villagers have been complaining that they are paying money for garbage collection but that the workers are not coming every day to collect the garbage.
“We are paying two thousand rupees every year to collect our garbage. They are not coming regularly to collect garbage,” said a local who demanded that this be looked into urgently and that the collection is carried out on a daily basis.
They also point out to a garbage segregation shed where garbage used to be segregated but due to the foul stench it was emitting, that activity was stopped by the villagers. Unfortunately, the shed, garbage, and dustbins are still kept there.
There have been complaints that the garbage is also entering the water body that is near the shed.
“We had stopped it due to the bad smell it brought all around the village. This project must be kept somewhere far from the village and the shed also needs to be removed,” said Mariana Oliveira, a resident.
Migrants blamed for garbage mess
Santa Cruz is no different when it comes to migrants’ issues. There are many migrants residing in the village and all of them are staying in rented premises. Locals have alleged they the migrants are responsible for the garbage strewn all over the village as they
throw their garbage all over the roads or on the fields.
Crumbling Market
The panchayat building looks like a strong building but the reality is different. In the panchayat building, on the ground floor, there is a fish market where fishermen are frightened to sit and sell their fish due to falling patches of the market roof.
To protect them from any untoward incident like the collapse of the roof, they have made makeshift arrangements using ply boards, and spare plastic boards.
“We have been sitting here for many years. The market is a little congested and dangerous because the roof patches are falling on us due to the bad condition of sealing rods. We have conveyed this many times to the panchayat but it is of no use. So finally we have protected ourselves with this makeshift arrangement below the roof, which will protect me from the falling patches,” said Pushpa, a fruit vendor.
The village football ground is in a bad condition
The condition of the football ground is very bad and poses a risk to those playing football. There are many small and big holes on the ground surface. The ground has no proper compound wall. The problems surrounding the ground are the reason why it is not used much. The public seating area of the ground is also filled with beer bottles and garbage. The poles are covered with bushes and some of them have rusted. Even the lighting is not functioning. Santa Cruz Sarpanch, Lawrence Rodrigues, however blamed anti-social elements for thwarting their repeated plans to install ground lights and similar development related initiatives in the area.
“Every time we are installing ground lights but they are being destroyed as some persons want to do illegal activities like taking drugs, having drinks etc. They are throwing bottles in the seating area and we are cleaning it regularly,” rued Rodrigues.
