MARGAO
The Balli Primary Health Centre on Monday issued a notice to Sulabh Sauchalaya with the lone toilet at the Cutbona fishing jetty creating a nuisance in the area.
The bigger question, however, remains unanswered “ when will the departments concerned install mobile toilets or implement the 50-seater toilet block for the migrant crew employed on the fishing vessels operating from the Cutbona fishing jetty.
After an inspection of the fisheries complex at the jetty, housing the lone Sulabh toilet meant for thousands of labourers, Balli PHC Health Officer, Dr Mamata Kakodkar told The Goan that a notice is being issued to Sulabh Sauchalaya to tone up the sanitation issues thrown up by the toilet block at the jetty.
“We have seen how the toilet block is creating a nuisance. The same will find mention in the notice that is being sent to the Sulabh officials,” Dr Kakodkar told The Goan.
Velim Sarpanch Savio D’Silva said the government departments, including the Director of Fisheries, should sit across the table and solve the sanitation at the jetty. He pointed out that the Velim panchayat had issued the NOC for the 50-seater toilet block seven years ago in 2013 and wondered why the departments concerned have not implemented the proposal to date.
He later told the media that the sanitation issue will not get resolved unless all the departments, including the Director of Fisheries, Health and Sulabh sit across the table and find out why the 50-seater toilet block proposal, which was mooted in 2013, has still not taken shape at the jetty.
When asked to explain the fisheries societies’ stand on the Fisheries Department directions to install mobile toilets, Savio, who is also a boat owner, demanded to know why the boat owners or the societies should install mobile toilets when the Fisheries Department is collecting lakhs of rupees fees from the fish agents.
“The Fisheries department has taken over the Cutbona fishing jetty from the Union. The department has been collecting money from the fish agents at the jetty. Where is this money going? Why is the Fisheries Department not spending this money on the maintenance of the jetty and sanitation,” he demanded to know.
Opposing any levy of fees by Sulabh for using the toilet, the Velim Sarpanch posed a counter-question, “Will migrant workers spend Rs 10 to use the toilet block or prefer to answer nature’s call in the adjoining fields. This is a very simple question and I am demanding free use of the Sulabh toilet to ensure the migrant workers use the facility.”
