the goan I network
MARGAO
The issue over fish meal plants at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate has taken the centrestage once again.
Days after Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias made a strong case on the floor of the Assembly against the setting up of new fish meal plants at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate on grounds of pollution, residents of Cuncolim have now knocked the doors of TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai to shut down the existing fish meal plant at the estate.
Even as speakers at the meeting held to mark the entry of Yuri Alemao into the Goa Forward party questioned the monopoly of a lone fish meal plant at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, residents handed over a memorandum to the TCP Minister at the meeting praying for freedom from pollution and secure a safe living environment for the future generations.
In the memorandum, the residents expressed their unhappiness over the inaction of the Goa State Pollution Control Board and the Goa Industrial Development Corporation in respect of the resolution taken by the Cuncolim Municipal Council, requesting the concerned authorities not to issue NOC for the existing fish meal plant.
“Besides the foul smell, the waste discharged from the fish meal plant in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate poses danger to the ecology, our village and the environment in general,” the memorandum submitted to the TCP Minister stated.
While making a plea to the TCP Minister to consider the memorandum and accord highest priority to the serious issue of pollution in Cuncolim Industrial Estate, the residents hoped that only immediate action will bring relief to the beleaguered people of Cuncolim.
Speakers at the meeting, including Yuri, had wondered why a lone fish meal plant at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate enjoys the monopoly in the business when residents had been demanding that the industrial estate should be rid of fish meal plants.
Incidentally, the previous BJP-led government had given its nod for the setting up of the lone fish meal plant at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate by disregarding the sentiments of the people who had been vehemently opposed to such plants in the village. In fact, the Cuncolim Municipal Council had witnessed an uproar a couple of months ago after residents forced former CMC chairperson Polita Carneiro to revoke the NOC granted for a new fish meal plant at the Cuncolim estate.
While the former CMC chairperson was quick to revoke the NOC for the new fish meal plant, one question, however, that has remained unanswered for half a decade now is why there’s
still no action forthcoming against the existing fish meal plant if such plants are a source a pollution.
