the goan I network
MARGAO
Is Margao Municipal Council’s plastic free exercise not applicable for the stalls set up at the feast fair on the SGPDA grounds since the last four days? Otherwise, how does one explain the generation of huge quantity of plastic waste, which was found either dumped or burnt just outside the fair?
These questions have come to the fore since the civic body had in the past displayed banners to remind the stall owners as well as the customers on MMC’s ambitious plastic free drive in the city.
Inquiries by The Goan, however, have only revealed that the plastic free drive was not implemented in the feast fair for reasons best known to the Municipal authorities. This was evident by the fact that while the market inspectors and the sanitary inspections in the past made their presence felt at the feast fair to spread awareness amongst the traders as well as consumer on the need to reduce plastic use, these civic officials were sadly conspicuous by their absence this time round.
A market inspector told The Goan that there was no brief from the Municipal officials to crack a whip against the stall owners using plastic bags or the banned plastic bags below 40 microns size.
When The Goan contacted CO Siddivinayak Naik to shed light on the plastic free drive at the feast fair, he was candid in admitting that the Municipality did not insist on the contractor or the stall owners not to use the banned plastic bags. “I will find out from the MMC officials the ground reality at the fair,” Naik said, when his attention was drawn to reports that plastic and other waste has just been dumped outside the fair or burnt by unscrupulous elements.
Incidentally, the Chief Officer pointed out that the responsibility of collecting the tons of waste left behind at the feast fair on the SGPDA ground lies with the civic body, adding that the Municipality will collect the fees from the stall owners.
Incidentally, MMC’s plastic free drive in the city has come a cropper with the drive losing its steam in the markets as well as in the shops and establishments for want of effective enforcement by the civic body.
