PANAJI
Fires, wild or otherwise, are coming closer home to the capital city where a fire in the fields of Taleigao sent up huge clouds of smoke around the fast-urbanising village.
The significantly large fire swept the paddy fields in the afternoon. These Taleigao fields are usually sown with veggies at this time of the rabi season and several farmers and locals joined hands in the effort to fight the flames.
Fire tenders joined the fire-fighting, but the thick clouds of smoke aided by winds affected visibility and disrupted traffic movement, besides affecting residents in large apartment blocks.
Amid ongoing debate of fires breaking out across Goa were man-made and not natural, there are allegations in Taleigao that authorities have ignored multiple complaints of people setting fires in fields.
Complaints have been filed with the Taleigao panchayat, police, health and agriculture departments besides the Pollution Control Board but no action is taken, said local activist and AAP leader Cecille Rodrigues.
