MARGAO
“Will you support me”, was a question literally asked by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to sarpanchas and elected panchas from Salcete and down South on Wednesday as the government went into top gear in the ongoing battle against garbage, open defecation and sewage disposal.
Restricting his engagements in the morning session, the Chief Minister sat at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao for well over three hours and half, listening attentively to the presentations made by officials on waste management and addressing the concerns of sarpanchas and panchas on a gamut of issues concerning waste management. He offered an olive branch to the people of Salcete and down South with a plea to join the government to cap the burning waste and sanitation issue once and for all.
And, perhaps for the first time, the Chief Minister “appreciated” the resolutions adopted by the panchayat bodies opposing river nationalisation (though he clarified that it is not nationalisation) and coal transportation and opposing release of Mhadei water to Karnataka. But, he reminded the grass-root panchayat bodies that while these issues are no less important, equally significant are their responsibility to tackle the waste and sanitation problem plaguing the panchayat bodies and the people.
“The government is serious in addressing the issue of waste, sanitation and sewage disposal, but your determination is required. For the moment, we have decided to tackle waste management and sanitation head on. For the last 7-8 months, we have pooled our efforts to come to this level. No one can escape these problems. If we don’t address these issues in the next five years, the future will be bleak,” the Chief Minister sought to drive home the point that the government’s efforts can succeed only if the panchayats and civic bodies lend their cooperation and support the initiative.
Parrikar sought to allay apprehensions that the government is only concentrating in the North, saying both the districts are equally important for him in the ongoing war against garbage and sanitation.
“Do you know that 72,000 households in Goa are answering nature’s call in the open. I was ashamed to know that our people, including women wake up before dawn to go in the open to answer nature’s call. We need your help to change the ground reality. Money is not an issue for me, whether to address garbage or sanitation. All I require is your support to take the programme to the door steps,” Parrikar told the panchayat elected representatives.
The Chief Minister was heard reassuring the panchayat members that the government would not shy away in overcoming the legal hurdles coming in the way of implementing the sanitation programme and waste management.
While the Chief Minister spent half a day with the panchayat representatives from Salcete and South Goa on Wednesday, he is expected to hold a similar exercise in North Goa on Thursday. And, apparently buoyed by the success of the initiative, the Chief Minister has promised to hold similar programmes in all the talukas from June to take the war against garbage and sanitation to its logical conclusion.
