MARGAO
Government’s plan to set up a waste treatment plant for Salcete and Mormugao at the Verna Industrial Estate came under strong opposition
at the Loutolim gram sabha on Sunday.
Days after the government authorities wrote a letter to the panchayat stating that land at Devotte in Loutolim has been identified to set up the proposed waste treatment plant, the Loutolim gram sabha chaired by Sarpanch Inacinha Fernandes has unanimously opposed the plant in the village.
A gram sabha member Joaquim Gracias said members have vehemently opposed the proposed plant in Loutolim given the bitter past experience of waste treatment plant arrangement in Panaji and other parts of the state. “The people were apprehensive that tonnes of waste finding its way into the proposed plant from South Goa will create nuisance to the villagers. The villagers were of the strong opinion that garbage treatment plants have failed to achieve the purpose in the areas they were set up in the past,” he added.
The sarpanch told the gram sabha members that the resolution adopted at Sunday’s meeting will beconveyed to all the authorities for action.
This is the second time that the Loutolim gram sabha has come out strongly against the government’s plan to set up the waste treatment plant in the village. Villagers had in the past opposed the proposal after the government made an announcement that a waste treatment plant on the lines of the Saligao plant will be set up at the Verna industrial estate, whose jurisdiction extends upto Loutolim village.
What has prompted the gram sabha to adopt a fresh resolution was the correspondence received from the authorities to the panchayat stating that land at Devotte has been identified for the proposed garbage treatment plant.
In the meantime, the issue over the installation of towers came for discussion after a fresh proposal was received from Indus for the erection of a tower in a new survey number. There was no objection for the tower, but one of the members demanded that permission for its installation should be issued only after the authorities concerned grant conversion for the work.
