Questions galore over system failure in waste management at PDA retail market

Consider this. When the meat traders/vendors, besides the shop owners in the adjoining Osia commercial complex were all willing to dispose of their waste in a scientific manner, was it not the responsibility of the SGPDA or for that matter the Margao Municipal Council or the Sewerage Infrastructure Corporation of Goa to provide the basic amenities for safe disposal of the waste.

Consider this. The meat traders have all received closure notices from the GSPCB on the ground they are disposing their waste water in the drains. This brings to the fore the moot question, whether it was not SGPDA’s responsibility to set up an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in place in the market. Secondly, is it possible for the individual traders/vendors to go for ETPs when they are doing business in a market owned by the SGPDA and the land does not belong to them?

It’s now over two decades since the SGPDA market was commissioned with much fanfare, throwing up a question why the Planning Body never gave any thought to setting up an ETP in the market to treat the waste water before it is discharged in the storm water drains?

That’s not all. The meat traders were virtually grilled by officials just to find out how they dispose of the chicken waste and meat bones, seeking documents and details on the mode of disposal, indicating that no official agency was monitoring the collection and disposal of the waste from the PDA market.

Given that collection and disposal of solid waste is the basic responsibility and function of a local civic body, questions are raised why the Margao Municipal Council did not put a mechanism in place whereby the mode of waste collection from the market and its safe disposal was under constant monitoring. It is apparent that unlike bio-medical waste collection from the medical institutions in the city, facilitated through the intervention and interactions by the government agencies, including the Margao civic body, no such exercise was conducted to put a mechanism in place to track down the waste collection and disposal system in the market.

GSPCB under lens for meat stall closures amid pollution concerns

MARGAO: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) may have to answer a host of questions over its closure notices sent to the meat stalls in the SGPDA market on the issue of consent to operate and for discharging the waste water in the drains.

Take note, the GSPCB action comes in the wake of the exercise set in motion by the Pollution Control Board in the public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court filed by a citizen of Navelim, Prof Antonio Alvares complaining of the discharge of untreated sewage and waste water from Margao into Navelim, contaminating the picturesque Salpem lake.

One, how come the GSPCB failed to insist on the stall owners over the last 20 years to obtain the consent to operate from the Pollution Control Board. These stalls have been operating in the PDA market complex since the time of market commissioning two decades ago.

That’s not all. GSPCB officials may have to face another pertinent question “ how come the Board never inquired with the SGPDA why the Planning body did not make a provision for an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in the market complex.

The GSPCB was quick to issue show-cause notices to the meat stall traders in the PDA market, but questions remain unanswered “ why was a similar show cause notice not issued to the SGPDA for its failure to set up a common ETP in the mega market complex.

The SGPDA may claim that garbage generated in the market is disposed of by the Margao Municipal Council, but questions remain unanswered whether the Planning body had at any time set up a mechanism in place for safe disposal of the meat waste, including chicken feathers and bones.