the goan I network
MARGAO
In an interesting development, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued directions to 29 establishments, including some shacks, restaurants and hotels in Colva to obtain the consent to operate or renew the consent as the case may be or face action from the Board under the provisions of the law.
The Colva Civic and Consumer Forum, which had petitioned to the High Court around eight years ago in connection with the discharge of waste water in the Colva creek, has however, termed the action contemplated by the GSPCB as a sham, saying the Board had carried out the inspections of the shacks in mid-March last at the fag end of the season and that the notices did not reflect the names of owners.
Those units, which had been issued the notices by the GSPCB had either no consent to operate under the Air Act, Water Act, and hazardous waste authorisation or had not renewed the consent from the Board, especially in cases relating to hotels.
The notices have directed the 29 establishments to submit online applications for obtaining consent to operate within 15 days, with the notice warning that failure to comply with the directives will compel the Board to initiate stringent legal action under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1964 and Air (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1981 without further notice.
A perusal of the notices issued by the GSPCB revealed that amongst the establishments which had not renewed the consent to operate were a couple of prominent hotels. In the case of the beach shacks, many of them, had been found wanting in obtaining the mandatory consent to operate.
Colva Civic and Consumer Forum Secretary Judith Almeida, however, termed the action contemplated by the GSPCB as a sham. She pointed out that the inspections were carried out by the Board on March 15 last at the fag end of the season, adding that the names of owners do not reflect in the directions issued by the Board. “While the Board had carried out the inspections in mid-March last, the notices have been issued to the erring establishments on September 19-20 last. The shacks along the beach have closed shop prior to May 31, 2018,” she said, while adding that names of shacks can change every year.
A GSPCB official, however, begged to differ. He said that since shack licences have been issued for a period of three years, the notices issued by the Board is binding on the shacks which will reopen in the new season.
Judith, on the other hand, contended that the Board should have named the owners of the shacks in the notices, saying it is an open secret that many a time the shacks are sub-let to the operators along the coast.
She also demanded to know how the wet garbage is disposed of by the restaurants and shacks, whether the waste is handed over to the panchayat or the contractors. “The GSPCB should find out how and where are these contractors disposing of their garbage. How and where is the sewage generated in the establishments disposed,” Judith has demanded to know.
Saying that tourism without infrastructure is a bane, Judith said the taxes collected from these business establishments must go back into the infrastructure for the shacks.
