the goan I network
MAPUSA
On a day when Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) Chairperson Ryan Braganza and his colleagues joined thousands of leaders in the country to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and waxed eloquent on cleanliness, the Mapusa Municipal Council was found to have failed to keep its own backyard clean.
Mounds of garbage were found stacked just 100 metres away from the State highway at Karrasvaddo, Mapusa, which was festering at the site for the last four months.
Despite several oral complaints made to the local councillor, no efforts were made to lift the waste and clear the area.
Unable to tug the conscience of the local councilor, a local resident, Dorisa Pinto recently made a written complaint to the MMC, health officer and the police station.
In her complaint, Pinto said nearby residents and the municipal garbage collectors use the site as dumping ground to dump the garbage.
“As the garbage is thrown on daily basis huge amount of waste is piled up in the area which is in front of my house. Besides the unbearable stink, the unsanitary condition can plague my family members with sickness,” Pinto said.
The complainant said many times the garbage is strewn all over the public road making it difficult for them to use the road.
She further said people passing by urinate around the place causing further nuisance in the area.
Surprisingly, although the area has several houses including a building complex only one family has come forward to lodge a complaint.
Local councillor Sushant Harmalkar admitted there was a problem in the area but blamed the machinery and lack of labour for failure to lift the garbage.
“We require a JCB to lift the huge amount of garbage piled up in the area. The JCB belonging to the municipal council has broken down. And during the Chaturthi we had huge labour problem. We will try to clear the area by next week,” said Harmalkar, who is also the Mapusa market committee chairman.
Interestingly, the Mapusa civic body had identified several black spots in its jurisdiction and transformed them into attractive spots by beautifying the areas.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa had also praised the civic body for having tackled the problem of black spots.
