Pollution Board flags waste management issues at SGPDA retail market

A GSPCB official gets a first-hand experience of the stinking environment at the SGPDA mega retail market.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO
The stinking environment in the SGPDA mega retail market has come under the lens of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).

When an official of the Board visited the SGPDA market to verify the claims of the laying of sewerage line in the market as per the High Court directions, he came across stench across the market, indicating that all still isn’t well in the mega market.

In fact, a visibly agitated GSPCB official demanded to know from a PDA official whether the stinking environment is a way to dispose of the waste generated in the market complex. When the PDA sought to explain that the waste is being amicably collected by the PDA and disposed of by the Margao Municipal Council, the GSPCB official insisted on putting a system in place for the safe collection and disposal of the market waste.

The official is believed to have pointed out that the PDA should built a storage facility for the safe disposal of the market waste before it is collected and transported by the Margao Municipality.

The GSPCB official had visited the market to inspect and verify the claim made by the Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL) before the High Court that the Corporation has laid the sewage line in the PDA market complex for the safe disposal of the waste water generated by the 42 meat stalls.

While work on the laying of sewage line was almost found completed, the GSPCB official has demanded to know why the line is not extended to the fish market shed as well as the fish cutting shed. The official contended that since the fish market as well as the fish cutting shed is being cleared by the PDA appointed contractor, the waste water should be channelised to the underground sewage line instead of flowing into the storm water nullah.