the goan I network
MARGAO
In fact, blame it on the absence of a waste disposal site or otherwise, the local Navelim village panchayat has been grappling with the burning issue of waste collection and disposal, especially wet waste. What has further aggravated the problem for the panchayat body and the villagers alike is the bitter fact that the waste disposal mechanism has not kept pace with the new housing settlements coming up in the village.
The mandatory provision for constructing composting units within the new building complexes has not helped in any way to mitigate the problem. In fact, villagers blame the panchayat body for its failure to keep a close track of the housing colonies to ascertain whether the composting units are put to use or not.
Says local environment activist, Eleuterio A Carneiro: “Our panchayat issues occupancy certificates for new flats, bungalows, houses by inspecting the newly constructed composting unit (a cemented tank on the ground). However, once people start staying in the flats, bungalows, houses they never use the so-called composting units. Instead, they dump their garbage by the roadside. There is no mechanism with the panchayat to check if people follow the conditions laid down on the occupancy certificate.”
A member of the bio-diversity committee and garbage panel, Carneiro pointed out that he had asked for NOC around two years from the Navelim pancahyat for installation of CCTV cameras on the main village junctions at my cost. “The NOC was refused. The panchayat said it will install the cameras. Till date, not even a single CCTV camera has been installed neither on the streets nor in the panchayat premises. My intention was surveillance of those dumping garbage by the roadside and day-night dacoities. If panchayat had not refused NOC, today the stinking garbage on the Navelim roads would have reduced and house breaking cases would have been easily detected,” he said, while seeking the intervention of local MLA and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado to adopt a resolution for the installation of CCTV cameras and help reduce waste dumping along the roadside.
When The Goan called up village Sarpanch Frank Fernandes to shed light on the garbage management, he said the panchayat only collects dry waste every fortnight, but is handicapped in addressing the wet waste menace for want of a waste disposal site. “The panchayat had zeroed in on a site for waste disposal, but it did not find favour with the Water Resources Department,” he said.
Local MLA Avertano Furtado, pointed out that his plea to MMC to accept the village waste has come a cropper. “Waste disposal is indeed an issue which we have been trying to address since last four years, but in vain. Absence of a disposal site has only come in the way of resolving the issue. Waste from other villages also finds its way into Navelim,” Avertano admitted.
