the goan I network
MARGAO
In a move that may raise many an eyebrow amongst the village panchayats, the Margao Municipal Council has sought details from as many as 16 Salcete village panchayat on the garbage disposal mechanism in place in these local bodies.
While the avowed objective behind the MMC’s exercise is to find out the waste mechanism in place in the panchayat bodies given that waste from the villages finds its way in the city, questions are being raised whether the civic body can seek details from village panchayats which are also local self-governing bodies.
The MMC letters have gone to the village panchayats of Betalbatim, Camurlim, Curtorim, Rumdamol, Davorlim, Dicarpale, Nuvem, Sao Jose De Areal, Sernabatim, Aquem-Baixo, Benaulim, Colva, Navelim, Raia, Seraulim and Telaulim seeking copies of the garbage disposal plan and the work orders/agreement of garbage collection issues or entered into with any organization/NGO/individuals by the village panchayat.
The MMC letter has also sought to know the details of garbage disposal plan of the village panchayats and the deterrent action taken by these against those citizens recklessly throwing garbage.
The panchayats have also been told to furnish
the data of daily garbage collected for past one year in the village.
Incidentally, MMC Chief Officer Sidhivinyak Naik has urged the 16 panchayat bodies to forward the information within a period of seven days, with a warning that the information furnished/ not furnished within stipulated date will be submitted for C.P. No. 43/2017 in PIL No. 4/2007 presently before the Bombay High Court.
“My exercise in seeking details from the village panchayats is aimed at ascertaining how the local bodies handle the waste problem, especially on the disposal front. Around 14 tonnes of mixed waste finds its way in the city every day at the black spots and the transfer stations in the city,” the MMC CO told The Goan. Saying that it is up to the village panchayats to forward the information to the civic body, Naik pointed out that he has also written to the Director of Panchayats as well as the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) on the status of waste disposal
mechanism in place in
the villages.
In the past, MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai had called for a meeting of the sarpanchas of the village panchayats bordering the municipality, but the exercise had come a cropper with only two sarpanchas turning up for the meeting.
MMC’s plea to the District Collector, South, in the past to call for a meeting with the representatives of the Salcete village panchayats had also come a cropper.
