the goan I network
MARGAO
With the Maina area of neighbouring Curtorim village literally choked with smoke and neither the health officials nor the district administration descending in the area to inquire about the state of the hapless residents, agitated residents of Curtorim led by Sarpanch Rui Menezes blocked MMC garbage trucks around noon from unloading the waste at the site.
South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, who hails from Curtorim, also descended at Sonsodo and told MMC chairperson Babita Prabhudesai in clear terms to contain the smoke on priority. Sardinha also telephonically spoke to district collector Ajit Roy with a plea to rope in experts at the site instead of taking advice over the phone.
Agitated over the failure of any of the authorities to inquire about the fate of the residents of Maina choked by the Sonsodo smoke, the residents led by Rui and accompanied by chairman of the Curtorim Bio-diversity Committee J Santan Rodrigues and panchayat members stopped trucks from heading to Sonsodo, leaving MMC officials with no option than to take the garbage-laden vehicles back to the MMC garage.
After Prabhudesai, district police chief Arvind Gawas, DySP Serafino Dias reached the site, residents maintained that they have stopped the trucks to register their protest against the indifference of the authorities in attending to the residents of
Maina.
“Why should the residents of Maina and Curtorim bear the brunt of Sonsodo when the MMC does not even accept the village waste,” Rui asked the officials. He pointed out that spraying water over the burning dump has contributed to the smoke, which has choked the Maina area since the last three days.
After the MMC Chairperson pleaded that the waste loaded in the vehicles would stink if not unloaded immediately, the residents allowed the trucks to enter the site, but warned that no more trucks should enter the waste dump till the fire and smoke at Sonsodo is brought under control.
Babita later told media that the MMC would explore the possibility of sending the city waste to the Saligao plant, even though she exuded confidence of resolving the issue at Sonsodo in a day or two.
Meanwhile, South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha said the residents of Maina and Curtorim are facing a health hazard for the last three days demanding that the MMC and the district authorities take pro-active measures to control the fire and smoke by roping in experts.
