the goan I network
VASCO
Sancoale Panchayat in its extraordinary gram sabha on Sunday resolved to ban the use of plastics.
According to Sancoale panchayat, Secretary Krishna Gawade, the gram sabha was called after Director of Panchayats issued a memorandum to call for a gram sabha with a special focus on plastic ban and resolving issues related to garbage.
Gawade said that an awareness camp would be organised to educate all shops and residential areas not to use plastics. If those who don’t fall in line, they will have to pay huge fines.
He said that Sancoale panchayat had come down to number three after being number one for around 20 years for being plastic free and garbage had played a main role in lowering the rank.
He said the panchayat did not have a dedicated dumping site. “It had to depend on a contractor who would collect garbage door to door and later dump it a site elsewhere,” he stated.
Gawade said that once a dedicated site would be made available to the panchayat, the entire garbage would be collected and disposed off and the festering issue resolved.
Members who attended the gram sabha have suggested that Sancoale Panchayat provide free cloth and paper bags initially and later people could buy them on their own. Suggestions also included announcements of plastic ban on mike across the village to pass on the message.
Deputy Sarpanch Kavita Kamal, however, insisted that most of the garbage in Sancoale was contributed by outsiders who came to the village on bikes and threw garbage on roadsides.
She said the panchayat had even caught a few people red-handed while dumping garbage and warned.
Kamal appealed to the people to keep their village clean like their own house. She said that the people must contribute to keeping the village clean and hoped that the garbage issues will be resolved soon after a dedicated site was made available to the panchayat.
