MAPUSA
Garbage crisis has returned to haunt the Mapusa town with a vengeance as heaps of trash are found piled up at every nook and corner on the streets and open places.
Despite having a door-to-door garbage collection system in place, black spots have reappeared in many places as people keep dumping plastics and other waste in the open space.
Besides giving the town a shabby look, the piles of waste can be a source of health hazard.
At several places locals set the garbage on fire as the civic workers fail to collect the waste for months.
“We don’t have enough trucks to collect waste which keeps piling up all over the town and on a daily basis. We also don’t have enough hands that can do the manual work of lifting the waste,” said a civic official.
While the Mapusa Municipal Council has been somehow managing to keep the main roads in important locations clean, the interior areas of the town were in a state of mess with garbage stacked at every corner.
The situation was pathetic in Khorlim, Angod, Peddem, Shettya-vaddo, Duler, Dattawadi, Camarkhazan and Karasvaddo.
“For the last two months we see garbage everywhere. Even places of worship are not spared as waste is found dumped near chapels and temples. The situation is alarming. The municipality needs to pull up its socks and take some quick and effective measures to tackle this menace,” said Kamal D’Souza, a councilor.
Segregation
goes for a toss
At many places door-to-door garbage collection takes place but the segregation of waste at source has become a big flop as residents fail to sort out wet and dry waste separately forcing the contractors to collect mix waste.
Secondly, there are quite a few places where contractors are not lifting garbage on a day-to-day basis.
A resident of Peddem said kitchen waste could not be kept at home for more than two days as it may lead to health hazard.
“We have no other option but to throw out kitchen waste if the garbage collector does not turn up even for a day,” she said. She further alleged that sometimes garbage is not lifted for days together in the area.
MMC to focus on
segregation at source
MMC Chief Officer Amitesh Shirvoikar said that the council was trying to streamline the waste collection and focus on segregation at source.
He also admitted that the municipality was facing shortage of labourers and breakdown of trucks was also an issue.
Two months ago, the council had passed a resolution to outsource the entire garbage collection including door-to-door waste collection to a private agency.
“We have sent the file to the GSUDA which is pending for approval. We are constantly following up the matter and expect to get a green signal,” Shirvoikar said.
