Hazardous waste left behind by Sunrise Zinc at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate covered with tarpaulin by Goa State Pollution Control Board.
MARGAO
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is on the job in Cuncolim Industrial Estate to perform the annual ritual – to cover the hazardous waste left behind by Sunrise Zinc around a decade and half ago.
A permanent solution, however, has eluded the authorities till date, with the hazardous waste lying as it is in the Industrial Estate since 2017.
People of Cuncolim have been demanding over the years the immediate shifting of the hazardous waste to a scientific landfill site, but in vain, leaving the GPSCB to perform the annual ritual of covering the hazardous dump before the arrival of the monsoon every year.
While abundant promises were made in the past to take care of the hazardous waste, the ground reality, however, remains unchanged. Plans drawn up to transport the waste to neighbouring state Maharashtra came a cropper due to legal issues. Similarly, subsequent plans to take the hazardous waste to the landfill site at Dharbandora also could not materialise as the proposal did not take off.
When ‘The Goan’ called up GSPCB Member Secretary Dr Shamila Monteiro to shed light on the hazardous waste left behind by Sunrise Zinc, she said the Board has covered the waste before the onset of monsoons.
However, when questioned whether the Pollution Control Board has any plan in place to permanently rid the Cuncolim Industrial estate of the hazardous waste, Dr Monteiro said the matter had come at the last Board meeting wherein it was decided that that the waste from the Cuncolim Industrial waste would be disposed of the proposed Pissurlem hazardous waste land fill site. “Since the Board had deliberated and taken a decision on the disposal of the hazardous waste lying at Cuncolim Industrial estate, the same will be taken to the Pissurlem site in the future”, she said.
Advisor to the Cuncolim Citizens Front Dr Jorson Fernandes told ‘The Goan’ that the Front had recently written a letter to the GSPCB Member Secretary with a plea to immediately cover the hazardous waste of Sunrise Zinc and also the waste of another chemical factory in the Industrial estate in order to stop the pollution of the water bodies during the monsoons.
“As per section 32 of the Water Act, it is mandatory for the Goa State Pollution Control Board to take remedial measures of the hazardous waste lying exposed to the storm water draining the leachate into the streams and rivers and other water bodies”, he said, demanding to know why the Cuncolim Citizens Front should not hold the GSPCB responsible for the threat to the lives of the people of Cuncolim.
He added: “If the GSPCB Member Secretary says that the hazardous waste from the erstwhile Sunrise Zinc will be taken to the Pissurlem land fill site, the question that arises is who will foot the bill for the transportation. Will the GSPCB invoke the polluter pays principle or whether the tax payers will foot the bill for the entire transportation exercise”.
