File photo of the inspection carried out by the Salcete Taluka Level Committee at the SGPDA wholesale fish market around two months ago.
MARGAO
Another inspection of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA)-owned markets is scheduled for Thursday, but the key question remains: will the inspections conducted over the past several days and weeks translate into concrete action against the authority over the persistent garbage management issues plaguing its markets?
Thursday’s inspection will be the third such exercise by government agencies and will be conducted by a panel constituted by the South Goa Collector, headed by Margao Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ganesh Barve.
The inspection comes even as the Taluka Level Committee, a statutory body constituted by District Collector Egna Cleetus in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines on solid waste management, has already inspected the SGPDA mega retail fish market and the wholesale fish market earlier this month.
The committee, headed by Barve, had recommended a penalty of Rs 75,000 against the SGPDA for its failure to ensure proper solid waste management and for the burning of waste near the wholesale fish market.
However, the status of these recommendations remains unclear, with no confirmation on whether the district-level panel has issued directions to the SGPDA to pay the proposed penalty.
Against this backdrop, questions are being raised over whether Thursday’s inspection by the Collector-constituted panel will make any difference on the ground when the recommendations of the statutory Taluka Level Committee are yet to be implemented.
Questions have also come to the fore over the need to constitute another panel headed by Barve to examine solid waste management issues when the statutory committee, also headed by the same officer, has already inspected the SGPDA markets and recommended action against the planning authority.
Sources questioned the purpose of repeated inspections in the absence of follow-up action, pointing out that the garbage problem continues to plague the markets despite earlier exercises by government agencies. “We only hope and pray that the issue does not get postponed for want of implementation of the inspection reports. Days, weeks and months have passed since officials of various government agencies conducted a joint inspection of the PDA retail market a couple of months ago,” an official remarked.
With another inspection scheduled for Thursday, the focus is now on whether the authorities will move beyond inspections and ensure that the recommendations made in the earlier reports are implemented in letter and spirit.
