MAPUSA
The growing problem of uncollected wet waste being dumped along roadsides, in fields and nullahs across Goa came under sharp focus in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, with AAP MLA Venzy Viegas calling for the entire waste collection system to be placed under a single agency. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Viegas said people in villages were increasingly anxious about indiscriminate dumping due to the lack of a reliable daily door-to-door collection system.
He said wet waste from households and commercial establishments was increasingly being dumped along roadsides, vacant plots, agricultural fields and nullahs, causing foul odour, unhygienic conditions, mosquito breeding and an increase in stray dogs.
Viegas attributed the problem to inadequate funding, poor collection arrangements and a lack of clear accountability. He urged the government to make daily door-to-door collection of wet waste mandatory across all villages. He also called for a transparent tendering system under which a single contractor or agency would be responsible for collection in a defined area, with penalties for failing to provide the stipulated service. Viegas sought adequate funding and a greater monitoring and coordination role for the Collector to ensure that local bodies and collection agencies met their responsibilities. He also suggested fixed collection schedules and designated collection points in every ward. “Clean villages are vital for public health, tourism and the environment,” Viegas said, urging the government to spell out measures to address the problem. Going a step further, Viegas proposed that the entire waste collection system be entrusted to the Waste Management Corporation instead of local self-governing bodies. He said the existing decentralised system had failed to adequately address waste treatment and prevent open dumping. Waste Management Minister Atanasio Monserrate said local self-governing bodies were currently responsible for waste collection across the State. However, Monserrate said he was also in favour of a more centralised system and felt waste collection could be entrusted to a single department.
