the goan I network
MARGAO
With stink staring at the commercial capital on Tuesday after angry Curtorim villagers blocked garbage-laden trucks from heading to the Sonsodo, the Margao Municipal Council managed to dump the waste at the site in the evening under heavy police protection as Sonsodo resembled a fortress.
Around a dozen waste-laden trucks found their way to the Sonsodo site after a strong posse of policemen led by District police Chief, SP Arvind Gawas, DySP Serafino Dias kept a handful of protestors led by Curtorim Sarpanch Rui Menezes, ZP member Moreno Rebello, panch Simon
Barretto and a group of women at bay.
The police action assumed significance after the tyres of the garbage trucks were found deflated at the Municipal garage in the morning.
Police force was mobilized in strength at Sonsodo from entire South Goa fearing law and order problem, but the men-in-uniform clearly outnumbered the protestors at the site. Trouble began when the Curtorim Sarpanch and ZP member along with the handful of women stopped a truck from entering the dump at around 4.45 pm. As the truck was retreating on the road to return back to the municipal garage, the district police chief along with DySP Dias came on the road to clear the protestors and signaled the truck driver to head to the site.
Rui, Moreno and Simon and the women protested bitterly as the SP and the police got the protestors removed from the road. The heavy deployment of police helped to maintain law and order.
Moreno and the Sarpanch were heard arguing with the police top brass why were the peaceful protestors kept a bay from stopping the garbage trucks when the solid waste management rules, 2016 mandate the local bodies to transport only segregated waste at the waste treatment plant. “Instead of preventing the people from stopping the trucks, the police ought to have booked the MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai and Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik for violating the provisions of the solid waste management rules,” Moreno told the police. He further pointed out that the people of Curtorim have to bear the brunt of the pollution emanating from the Sonsodo dump yard for no fault of theirs, adding that promises made in the past to give relief to the people have all come a cropper.
Curtorim Sarpanch Rui Menezes directed his ire at Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, saying he ought to have been with the people when the police and the MMC were trying to bulldoze their way with the mixed waste at Sonsodo.
They pointed out that the Curtorim villagers will continue their peaceful protests against the dumping of unsegregated waste at Sonsodo till the municipality works out a solution to the burning issue.
