MARGAO
In an unprecedented clean-up operation to rid of the Aquem Ring Road of the stench and eyesore, Margao Municipal workers descended at the ring road on Tuesday to clear the garbage dark spot.
The garbage clean-up operation is expected to be followed by the closure of the Aquem ring road, between the Power House Junction and the Margao fire station, between dusk to dawn, to keep unscrupulous elements from disposing waste at the stretch under the cover of darkness.
The operation comes ahead of the laying of foundation programme for the proposed four-lane Rawanfond bridge and the illumination of the ring road at the hands of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
A day after Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat personally descended on the ring road with Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar and Municipal officials, Municipal workers and the workers engaged by the door-to-door waste collection agency started the clean-up operation on Tuesday.
Tonnes of waste and garbage dumped along the ring road stretch was being stacked in gunny bags by the workers engaged in the operation. Till Tuesday evening, the workers cleaned up a sizeable stretch of the ring road, with officials saying it may take one more day to rid the entire stretch of the stench.
MMC Sanitary Inspector, Viraj Arabekar informed that both Municipal workers and workers of the door-to-door waste collection agency have been deployed at the Aquem ring road.
Many a question, however, remains unanswered, whether the clean-up operation will help rid the ring road of the eyesore once and for all.
Sources say dumping of waste along the Aquem ring road may end with the district Collector Jyoti Kumari issuing an order based on a requisition made by the Margao Municipal Council, to close the ring road between dusk to dawn till early next year. “Once the road is closed between dusk to dawn, miscreants and unscrupulous elements may not gain entry on the road. We will have to wait and see whether they dump the waste at the site from the Rawanfond bridge,” remarked a civic official.
Others fear that another garbage dark spot may raise its ugly head in the immediate vicinity or in the adjoining villages once the ring road is shut for traffic between dusk and dawn.
“Most of the neighbouring villages have no wherewithal to address the issue of wet waste. Unless the district authorities call for a holistic approach to garbage handling not just in Margao, but in the neighbouring villages as well, there may not be any solution to the burning issue,” the official added.
