MARGAO
Another monsoon is just a month and a half away and the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will brace up to perform the same old annual ritual – to cover the hazardous zinc waste dump at the Cuncolim industrial estate to prevent chemicals from flowing down and contaminating the water bodies and groundwater.
Cuncolkars may have a simple question for Chief Minister Pramod Sawant – can his government sanction Rs 13 crore to cart away the hazardous waste from the Cuncolim industrial estate to the hazardous landfill site at Pissurlem and rid the town of the perennial health hazard to the local populace?
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has prepared preliminary estimates amounting to Rs 13 crore towards the transportation of hazardous waste to the Pissurlem landfill site. This is perhaps the first time since the hazardous waste was left behind by Sunrise Zinc around 2007 that the GSPCB has taken an in-principle decision to transport the waste from the Cuncolim industrial estate and prepared estimates for the carting.
Sources said only estimates will not result in the shifting of the hazardous waste unless backed by a sanction of funds by the government to float a tender before roping in agencies to execute the job.
In the last Assembly session, the Environment Minister had replied to an unstarred question tabled by Cuncolim MLA & Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao that it would cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 13 crore to shift the hazardous waste from Cuncolim IDC to the Pissurlem.
On this count, the Chief Minister may have to grapple with a contentious question – if the government is spending crores of rupees through the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) to remediate the half-a-century-old Sonsodo legacy dump, why cannot the government sanction Rs 13 crore to cap the issue of hazardous waste at Cuncolim IDC, symbolizing pollution and neglect over the years?
GSPCB chief speaks
Consider this. GSPCB Chairman Mahesh Patil has said the board has decided to transport the waste to a hazardous landfill site for disposal since a preliminary study has revealed that it would not be safe to remediate it at the site. Moreover, he pointed out that any agency would charge nothing less than one crore rupees to carry out a study, adding that it’s better to get the waste transported to the landfill instead of spending on further study.
The GSPCB, he says, is seeking support from both the Industries department, which owns the Cuncolim IDC, and the Department of Environment responsible for the protection of the environment, to fund the hazardous waste transportation.
“Since the monsoons are around the corner, the GSPCB will have no option but to cover the hazardous dump again. But, we would like to complete the process of floating a tender for the transportation of the waste during the intervening monsoon period so that the work could start post-monsoon,” he said.
Call for early disposal
Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao has called for early disposal of the hazardous zinc lying at the Cuncolim Industrial estate for the last 15 years.
“The Cuncolim industrial estate has earned notoriety over the years for pollution. The government can start the process of capping pollution by transporting the hazardous waste out of the Industrial estate,” he said, adding that he has accorded top priority to the disposal of the hazardous dump.
Measures sought
Cuncolim-based doctor & Advisor to the Cuncolim Citizens Front Dr Jorson Fernandes reminded that section 32 of the Water Act mandates the Goa State Pollution Control Board to take remedial measures on the hazardous waste lying exposed to the stormwater draining the leachate into the water bodies while demanding that the GSPCB recover the cost of shifting the hazardous waste by invoking the Polluter Pays principle.
Caution over action against industries housing workers
MARGAO
The Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) seemed to have treaded a cautious path over the question of initiating action against the industrial units for accommodating labourers in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate in violation of the labour norms.
After the unprecedented inspection of the industrial estate, followed by the show cause notices to 20-odd erring units found accommodating workers inside the factory premises, no immediate action against the erring units is likely in the future.
For, Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho had maintained in the last session of the Goa Legislative Assembly that the department will work out a solution to the problem instead of mulling action against the units.
Sources in the IDC informed that no action is likely to come against the units in one go. Instead, the owner of the industrial units will be called for discussion and to find a way out of the issue.
The Goan understand that after the GIDC issued the show cause notices to the erring units after they were found accommodating workers in the factory premises in violation of the labour norms, owners of these units called on the Industries Minister and explained to him the circumstances that have forced them to put up the workers inside the factory premises.
Owners of the fish processing units are also believed to have pointed out that the units have generated foreign exchange to the tune of hundreds of crores in the last financial year, adding that the IDC ought to give them time to work out a solution.
They were also believed to have argued that housing a large workforce outside the IDC in the residential neighbourhood may not go down well with the local populace.
The Cuncolim IDC had come under the scanner of residents in recent years over the increasing number of workers sheltered inside the industrial units in violation of labour norms.
A young labourer from Uttar Pradesh had died while he was sleeping in a makeshift accommodation provided by his employer following an Ammonia gas leakage in an adjoining industrial unit.
