The hazardous waste dump at the Cuncolim Industrial estate has once again been covered with tarpaulin sheets as the plan to transport the waste to the Pissurlem hazardous waste disposal site has failed to take off till date.
Photo Credits: The Goan
MARGAO
On World Environment Day, the top brass of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) including Chairman Mahesh Patil and Member Secretary Shamila Monteiro descended on the Cuncolim Industrial Estate for a tree plantation programme.
Along with Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) Chairman Reginaldo Lourenco, industry owners and officials, they all planted saplings at the industrial estate.
Cuncolkars, however, have a question or two for the Goa government and the authorities – why did the plan of transporting the hazardous waste left behind by Sunrise Zinc at the industrial estate fail to take off?
For, when the citizens descended on the industrial estate, they found to their shock and surprise that the hazardous waste was covered with tarpaulin sheets when the waste ought to have been transported to the hazardous landfill site at Pissurlem.
Citizens including Khabir Moraes, Shukla Kenny, Avi Desai, Manju Shirwant and Jerriton Dias highlighted serious environmental concerns over the abandoned hazardous waste as they underlined the need to address the issue on priority.
They pointed out that as the abandoned hazardous waste completes 16 years, and continues to threaten fertile farmland and groundwater contamination, the inaction by the authorities is nothing but a "toxic betrayal".
“For over a period of 16 years, the hazardous waste remaining from Sunrise Zinc has persistently troubled the inhabitants of Cuncolim, as the risk of groundwater contamination steadily escalates annually,” they pointed out.
The GSPCB had initially prepared an estimate amounting to Rs 13 crore to transport the hazardous Zinc waste from Cuncolim to Pissurlem, which was confined to the record books for a long time before the government late last year cleared a grant of Rs five crore to the GSPCB towards the transportation of the hazardous waste to Pissurlem.
Till last week, the promised Rs 5 crore grant remained on paper as the GSPCB is still awaiting the government to transfer the funds to the Board to execute the job of transporting the hazardous waste from Cuncolim to Pissurlem.
