PANAJI
Taking serious cognizance of the issue revolving around the incomplete Smart City works in Panaji, the bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa has decided to personally inspect the situation on the ground on April 1.
During the hearing of two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) on Wednesday, the Bench decided its Justice will inspect the works at 5 pm on April 1.
The High Court has also asked the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to install monitoring stations to keep a check on pollution after which the latter assured to start with two mobile monitoring stations.
One of the prayers of the petitioner residents is to install permanent real-time Air Ambient Quality Monitoring Stations at all important locations in Panaji to collect data and monitor the air quality standards within the vicinity of the works being undertaken by Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited.
They also sought the High Court’s directions to the GSPCB to ensure these stations collect real-time data on a daily basis and make this information accessible to the public.
In their PILs, the petitioners alleged that GSPCB has not taken cognizance of the dust pollution arising out of the road construction and other infrastructural works carried out in the city as well as potential health hazards that can be caused. So also, the Board has not undertaken any assessment of the impact of the large-scale works being undertaken simultaneously in high-density residential and commercial areas which amounts to neglect of public health and safety.
“There are no measures undertaken by IPSCDL or the concerned contractors or agencies to control or eliminate the dust pollution by adopting any remedial mechanism,” reads the petition.
