Dump not cleared one year after Rs 14-crore allocation
The uncovered hazardous waste at the Cuncolim IDC has been exposed to heavy showers for the last couple of days.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Blame it on the early pre-monsoon showers or the blatant failure to cart away the hazardous waste left behind at the Cuncolim IDC to the Pissurlem hazardous waste dumping site, Cuncolkars have feared that the delay in covering the dump with tarpaulin has threatened to contaminate the adjoining water bodies and the River Sal.
An agitated villager, Aviraj Desai, said the hazardous waste dump should be declared a “heritage” site if the government cannot honour its promises to transport the waste to the Pissurlem site.
With the 17-year-old hazardous waste dump found open when the early pre-monsoon showers took the State by storm, locals fear that chemicals from the waste dump may have left the water bodies and rivulets contaminated and polluted.
While the delay on the part of the Goa State Pollution Control Board to perform the annual ritual of covering the hazardous waste dump remains unknown, what has further agitated the local residents is the delay over the transportation of the waste from Cuncolim to Pissurlem.
“It’s now over a year since the government announced that the zinc waste will be transported to Pissurlem. The government had even sanctioned funds to the tune of Rs 14 crore to take up the exercise. But the ground reality has not changed,” Desai said.
He added: “This time, we apprehend that the water bodies and rivulets adjoining the Cuncolim Industrial Estate must have been contaminated by the zinc waste for the reason that the dump was exposed to the heavy pre-monsoon showers that lashed the State over the last five days.”
Reminding that the people of Cuncolim are revolutionaries having taken the Portuguese head-on, he said the government seemed interested only in the industries with an eye on the revenue. “Why should the people of Cuncolim suffer from pollution just because the government has revenue in mind? When I called up the Cuncolim IDC Field Manager to complain about the uncovered dump posing an environmental danger to the water bodies, the engineer feigned ignorance of the same,” he said while demanding to know whether it is not the duty of the IDC officials to follow up with the concerned departments.
Cuncolim Municipal Councillor Mariano Soares told the media that he had been fighting with the people and activists against the pollution at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate over the years. “Just imagine if the hazardous waste percolates into the water bodies. The government and the Ministers seem not interested in ensuring the health and well-being of the citizens,” he said, adding that he would take up the matter with the Cuncolim civic body to write to the Goa IDC and GSPCB to dispose of the hazardous waste.
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Covering of IDC dump delayed due to persistent unseasonal rain: GSPCB
MARGAO: Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) Member Secretary Sanjeev Joglekar has said the Board had issued a work order to the contractor to cover the hazardous dump at Cuncolim IDC on May 19.
He, however, said work on covering the hazardous dump could not start because of the heavy pre-monsoon showers that lashed the State in the last six days. Joglekar said the contractor has been told to start the work of covering the hazardous dump immediately and complete the work on top priority. “No one had anticipated that the State would be lashed by heavy pre-monsoon showers. The contractor has already brought the material near the dump site. Work on covering the dump with tarpaulin will commence immediately,” he added.
