unfinished business
GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
Can the people of Cuncolim and neighbouring Ambaulim village hope to breath fresh and clean air after the February 4 election for the Goa Legislative Assembly?
Come elections and politicians of all hues unfailingly promise Cuncolkars to tackle the acute pollution at the notorious Cuncolim Industrial Estate. The reason is simple. Over the years, residents staying around the industrial estate had to literally breath, eat and sleep with dust and smoke billowing from the steel and alloy industries, while politicians and extortionists under the guise of social workers extorted money and donations from the industries for their nefarious activities, risking the lives of the common man.
Sadly, instead of tackling the pollution head on, the issue got an added dimension. Thanks to the BJP government’s decision, the Cuncolim Industrial Estate now plays host to a fish meal plant, further aggravating the problem for the local residents. Even outgoing BJP MLA Rajan Naik, whose government bulldozed its way by granting permission for the fish meal plant against the wishes of local people, bitterly complained of the foul fish odour emanating from the fish meal plant, but in vain. He even submitted a letter to the Cuncolim Municipal Council to stop granting any new permission for fish meal plants, but neither he nor his government could effectively check the pollution till date.
That’s not all. A huge mound of hazardous waste stacked inside the industrial estate is a grim reminder that the Cuncolim Industrial Estate played host to not only the power guzzlers, but chemical industries.
Successive governments and leaders only gave empty promises to the people demanding action against the pollution industries, but in vain. That the outgoing government failed to transport the hazardous waste to a land fill site only goes to show the utter neglect and apathy showed to the Cuncolim Industrial Estate.
Says activist Oscar Martins, who had taken up the pollution issue to the court: “People of Cuncolim have been badly let down by successive governments. Otherwise, how does one explain that the fish meal plant was allowed at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate against the wishes of the people when it is an open secret that fish meal plants are highly polluting."
With the February 4 election just a fortnight away, Cuncolkars are certainly hoping against hope that candidates in the fray unveil a road map to tackle pollution at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate.
