ON THEIR TOESPANAJI: The ten days that they spent in trying circumstances in their efforts to douse the fire at the Sonsodo garbage dump is not the only time Goa's firemen were kept on their toes to control garbage piles from burning in the State. In the last six months alone, the fire department was called 37 times to attend to fires at the Taleigao garbage dump. In the same six months, the fire station at Margao got as many as 15 calls to attend to burning garbage around the city.
37 calls received in the last six months alone to attend to fires at the Taleigao garbage dump
15 calls to Margao fire station during same period to attend to burning garbage around the city
39 trips made by fire-tenders and thousands of litres of water used to douse fires at Taleigao dump
Dousing fires at garbage dumps is one of the most riskiest tasks faced by firemen as it becomes difficult to figure out chemical composition of the burning material and to fathom the toxicity of the fumes.
Of the 37 calls they attended at the Taleigao garbage dump, on five occasions the firemen doused fires twice in a day, five times.
Repeated incidents of fire at the Taleigao garbage dump, in particular, has kept the fire personnel on their toes several times and on one occasion fires broke out there thrice in a single day - May 10.
Thousands of litres of water was also used to douse the fires at the Taleigao dump and fire-tenders made 39 trips.
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), meanwhile, had issued a notice to the Taleigao panchayat in April, over the fires at the garbage dump and also directed the Collector to levy a fine of Rs 25,000 on the panchayat.
Besides this, the panchayat will also have to pay an additional hefty fine under the polluter pays principle.
Residents of the nearby Adwalpalkar Residency on the Taleigao-Dona Paula plateau had filed written complaints citing “clouds of black toxic smoke" following which the GSPCB acted against the panchayat.
