MARGAO
The Margao Municipality has finally set in motion the process to lift away the dry waste, including coconut waste that was being dumped by the civic body at the open space near the KTC bus stand, Margao.
A visit to the site where the MMC had been dumping trucks load of waste in recent months have shown that the waste has been lifted away by the civic workers. It is believed that the waste had found its way to Benaulim village.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Council for Margao lambasted the Margao Municipal Council for the indiscriminate, unauthorised and haphazard dumping of waste in the neighboring Benaulim village.
Addressing the media, SCM convenor Savio Coutinho launched a scathing attack on the Council while demanding that all the expenses incurred in the fiasco of dumping waste and the subsequent removal, from the Chief Officer and the Chairperson of MMC.
“The Council has to face this embarrassment primarily because of the heads of the Council are dancing to the tunes of the Margao MLA,” Coutinho charged. The media needs to question the Margao MLA whether or not this dumping of waste was carried out by the Council without the knowledge of the MLA, he said.
While congratulating the people of Benaulim for standing up against this dumping, Coutinho said the authorities had expected the villagers to be mute spectators to the nuisance.
Displaying the Municipal Solid Waste (management and handling) bye-laws 2020, Coutinho lamented that the Council has recently adopted these bye-laws, but the adoption is only limited to the extortion of money in the guise of sanitation fees, while all the other bye-laws are thrown to the wind.
“Byelaw no. 3 speaks about prohibition of littering of waste, which law has been violated by the Council itself. The bye-laws also speaks of appointment of “Nuisance Detectors”, but here is the case where the Nuisance Detectors have themselves turned out to be “Nuisance Creators”, he said.
Coutinho recalled that many people from Benaulim and adjoining areas along the river Sal were delighted with the Margao MLA taking oath on the banks of the river Sal, promising to protect the river.
