MARGAO
With monsoon round the corner, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will perform the annual ritual of covering the hazardous waste left behind by Sunrise Zinc at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate.
Covering the hazardous waste stacked at the industrial estate is a purely temporary measure put in place to stop the pollution of the adjoining water bodies and underground water during monsoons.
Cuncolkars, however, have a question or two for the GSPCB Chairman Mahesh Patil and Member Secretary, Dr Shamila Monteiro “ is there any permanent plan in place to dispose of the tonnes of hazardous waste lying at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate?
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that after years of struggle and problems, the landfill site for the hazardous waste generated in the state has finally taken shape at Pissurlem and that the GSPCB has granted the consent to operate it.
When this question was posed to GSPCB Chairman, Mahesh Patil, he said the board is seized of the matter. In fact, Patil is believed to have already descended on the Cuncolim Industrial Estate for an on the spot inspection. The Cuncolim estate was in the recent past declared as one of the 100 polluted sites in the country.
The GSPCB Chairman was quick to reply that the board is aware of the hazardous waste and pointed out it will be covered ahead of the ensuing monsoon season.
Even the GSPCB will have to grapple with the contentious question of how to go about disposing of the waste as it’s now years since the company Sunrise Zinc stands locked and shut down. This throws up the moot question whether the GSPCB will move the state or central government to fund the transportation of the hazardous material to Pissurlem, which sources say may cost a bomb to the exchequer.
The GSPCB Chairman pointed out that the board has decided to either rope in NEERI or a Bangalore-based agency to conduct a study of the hazardous waste, whether it still falls in the hazardous category and needs to be disposed of in a landfill site in a safe manner or cap the existing site.
“Let one of these agencies submit its findings and the board will then take a call on how to go about the matter. An agency had in the past given a report on the hazardous material, including the quality of water in the immediate vicinity of the dump. We will do a study and find out whether the dump is still hazardous or not”, Patil said.
He added: “For the moment, the GSPCB will go about covering the hazardous waste dump before the onset of the onset of monsoon to ensure there’s no pollution whatsoever in the area. As far as a permanent solution is concerned, we will wait for the expert agencies on how to go about the matter.”
The issue has come to the fore given that the state government in coordination with the industries association has set up a landfill site for hazardous waste at Pissurlem.
Locals demanded that the government should accord priority to the health of the people of Cuncolim than be bogged down by the enormous cost of funding the disposal of the hazardous waste since the Sunrise Zinc is down and out long ago.
Local resident Oscar Martins, who had pursued the matter of pollution in the courts, pointed out that the government and its agencies should not adopt any shortcut tactics in handling the hazardous dump just because the company is no longer in existence. “The government should tap the central funds to handle hazardous waste in the interest of its citizens,” he added.
