Bad idea
The proposal for solid waste management plant by Plastic Export Zundert (PEZ) is not advisable. I asked about their estimate for total landfill cost for one tonne of combustible waste including operational costs and also how they will generate the electricity power out of waste material and details of landfill gas technology proposed by them. All questions had no valuable answers from PEZ.
The CCP spent crores to put a bio gas plant at Patto where the consultants promised electricity to Panaji. They later dismantled it. Since there is a lot of rainfall in Goa, the leachates from the landfill site would cause flooding and contaminate the surrounding areas. With Goa’s tropical climate, there is every chance of microbial degradation and corrosion of installed machinery, as well as the spontaneous generation of fire and destruction at the landfill site.
Overall, this proposal should not go through because Goa being a small, land-scarce state where population density is growing fast, solutions that require large land areas are ridiculous and counterproductive in the long run. We cannot take irreversible decisions like this based on the 'seller'. The government should look at 'buyers'. Obviously, companies that set up landfills will speak of the pros rather than the cons. However, globally large scale litigation are proof that for the people living in areas with landfills, the landfill becomes the problem and not the solution.
Stephen Dias, Dona Paula
Don’t give in to taxis
The government should not pay heed to the ludicrous demands by the taxi driver associations. They are attempting to hold the state to ransom just because they now have competition. For years, these associations have been bullying five star hotels, other transport aspirants and even the people of Goa. I recall one time when a group of drivers beat up someone from North Goa who had driven a large vehicle to transport his extended family to and from their hotel in Colva. They were upset because they were losing business. In North Goa, taxi drivers charge as much as Rs 1000 to go from Baga to Calangute in the late hours of the night. This is for a distance of 3-5 km. As someone who works in the tourist industry, these associations are holding back the industry and not helping it, as they claim. We need to have more rent-a-cabs, app based taxis and rickshaws and even more pilots to give these ruthless taxi drivers competition. If they are losing business, it is only because they are keeping such high prices as tariffs that no one wants to travel with them. Now we have tourists from Mumbai and Bengaluru who drive their own cars down. This all happens because of this mafia. The government should put a stop to them.
Sanjay Naik, Mapusa
