MARGAO
Soon after assuming office, newly-appointed Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira had sent a message loud and clear that he meant business when he had descended at the SGPDA retail market to inspect the functioning of the bio-methanation plant.
Hopes have been raised since then amongst Madgavkars that the new Environment Minister will take cognisance of the rampant burning of waste, including garden and mixed waste, by the Margao Municipal workers and others, causing air pollution and posing a health hazard to the citizens.
For, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has been found wanting in cracking a whip against the Margao Municipal Council when waste burning in the open has become a matter of routine in the commercial capital, with waste even disposed of by burning right inside the Margao Municipal garden.
Sunday saw a mound of garden and vegetation waste disposed of by burning right near the Comba railway crossing. A close look at the spot revealed that though the mound comprised of leaves and vegetation waste, plastic too was mixed with the waste.
As the burning of the waste could be seen from a distance on the ring road, thick black smoke billowed from the site towards the residential buildings in the immediate neighbourhood.
A walk down the ring road, on the stretch between the Comba railway crossing and Cine Lata colony, showed that waste has been disposed of by burning at more than one place along the road, indicating that the waste has been deliberately disposed of by burning.
Take note, the Margao Municipal Council has been struggling to handle the garden and vegetation waste generated in the commercial capital after the High Court directed the civic body to stop waste dumping in the open space near the KTC bus stand.
Since then, the MMC had tried to dispose of the garden waste to Benaulim, but opposition from the local villagers forced the civic body to lift the waste back to the commercial capital. For the moment, the Margao civic body has no dedicated space to dump the garden and coconut waste for disposal.
It’s not uncommon to find mounds of garden and coconut waste along the city roads for want of disposal.
