the goan I network
VASCO
Sancoale has been hit by a serious garbage problem as the contractor appointed by the local panchayat has stopped daily door-to-door collection of waste since the last few days.
As a result, heaps of garbage are seen strewn by the roadside and in bags outside houses in several parts of the village.
According to sources, the contractor has stopped garbage collection. People living next the garbage dumping and segregation site (1000 sq mtrs donated by Zuari Agro Chemicals limited) complained that the contractor was dumping garbage not only from Sancoale but also from Cortalim village, they stated.
People also complained that the entire garbage was flowing into houses near the site in the monsoon.
Speaking to reporters, Panch Ramakant Borkar said despite warnings the contractor had not cleared the garbage and was found dumping huge stacks of garbage, instead of segregating it at the site.
“He has made this site another Sonsodo. Ideally, he should be segregating the garbage here and disposing it, but he stacks garbage from everywhere.” “People of my ward are complaining that the heaps are increasing day by day and it flows into their houses when it rains. We will not allow this to happen,” said Borkar.
However, the contractor claimed that politics was being played over the garbage issue and that he was being made a scapegoat.
“Sancoale was a shining example of daily garbage collection. We have been given this site by the panchayat to segregate garbage. Now if people object, where should I go and where do I take the garbage?”
“Let the panchayat identify a site and only then can I collect the garbage. There is no other place that I can dump/segregate garbage. We have segregated and disposed several tonnes of garbage in
the last few months,” said
the contractor.
If people don’t cooperate, we can’t
do much, says Sarpanch
VASCO: Sancoale Sarpanch Girish Pillai said the panchayat has been struggling to tackle garbage issues in the village.
“We have been given a plot by ZACL for segregation of garbage, where the daily collection of garbage is taken. Now, there have been complaints that water along with garbage is flowing into houses and people have raised objections on the garbage site. We have no other place for garbage and I am also totally helpless in the matter,” said Pillai.
“This is the garbage site for the village. If villagers object, then garbage collection will go for a toss. On one side, a particular section of villagers are insisting on daily garbage collection, while on the other side a section of villagers are objecting to the dumping site.” “How can the panchayat handle the issue in such a case? The garbage collection has been stopped since the last few days. Let villagers themselves provide us with a solution to this situation,” said Pillai.
