Goa has a waste management problem. This fact is well documented by every single news publication, TV channel and even social media. It’s a common lament by citizens that the waste piling up on roads and in fields is an eyesore and something needs to be done about it. Junkets have been undertaken, to Europe, where ministers and their men surveyed different waste management processes.
Back home though, the story is a little different. Goa has 13 municipal councils and one corporation, out of which six were in clear violation of all waste management standards, so much so that all of them have been slapped with show cause notices by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), which conducted inspections at all these municipal waste management sites in Goa. The municipalities in question were Canacona, Sakhali, Bicholim, Pernem, Cuncolim and Quepem. The main premise for these notices have been the dumping of mixed waste at solid waste management sites.
But there’s more. None of these municipalities have any knowledge of what is being done at the sites. This is where the problem lies. The sites are divided into three elements “ the organic waste converter, waste treatment plant and the landfill for solid waste. At these sites, there is supposed to be proper segregation of wet and dry waste. All plastic is meant to be stacked separately and wet waste managed and turned into compost. The dry waste that cannot be treated is dumped at the landfill.
None of this is actually happening. All six municipalities were not segregating waste, apart from Quepem, where plastic was being stored separately. The organic waste converters were not functioning at either of the six locations, and mixed waste was being dumped in both the treatment area as well as the landfill, apart from two locations “ Pernem and Sakhali, while at Cuncolim, plastic was being burned along with the rest of the dry waste. In Bicholim, dry and biomedical waste was burned.
This is appalling. Municipal councils manage the waste of the areas under their jurisdiction and are supposed to be conforming to the standards and norms set in order to fulfil the civic responsibilities of segregating and managing garbage, for which they charge and tax the residents. In an era of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ program, such blatant violation by the councils needs to be instantly recognised and the councilors in charge investigated. None of these councils can turn a blind eye to these tasks, all of which are mandated. The fact that none of them were even in the loop as to what was happening is a clear indication of the apathy to these responsibilities. It’s a complete breakdown of the duties that they were elected to do in the first place.
All six municipal councils have been given seven days to respond to these allegations and action could be taken if the responses are not made within the given time. But, judging by the severity of the evidence in the report, the government and the concerned departments need to use this as a precedent and crack down on these violation with a hard fist.
The apathy and careless actions by these municipal councils further exacerbate the ongoing fight to clear Goa of its waste.
