MARGAO
Petitioner in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) In the High Court on the Salpem lake contamination, Prof Antonio Alvares has submitted to the Court that the Goa State Pollution Control board (GSPCB) should table all the previous Inspection reports and action-taken reports about the SalpemTollem fields before the High Court.
Submitting that inaction by the Pollution Control Board to pull up the Margao Municipal Council over the past 30 years have led to this grave situation, Alvares pointed out that several Inspections have been conducted by the MMC, but no Inspection reports have been properly filed and given to him.
He further submitted before the High Court that there has been no follow up on the Inspections carried out by way of imposing penalties, etc.
Saying that the Health Department and the Pollution Control Board have played truant on the appointed days of inspections, the petitioner further submitted there needs to be strict action after inspections and no name-sake inspections must be held to merely comply with filing of affidavits in the High Court.
“The Pollution Control Board had in the past 25-30 years conducted several inspections of the pollution at Salpem Lake fields. All that was done is to publish the inspection news in the newspapers. A decade back, the PCB even has inspection reports that drinking water wells of people staying in the immediate vicinity of Salpem lake are polluted. So deep rooted is the contamination that ground water from the wells in the area can no longer be consumed. But no action was taken”, Alvares further submitted.
