PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has pulled up the panchayats of Merces, Chimbel and Santa Cruz for failing to rein in the garbage issue that has been plaguing the villages for several years now without any respite for the residents.
Adv Aires Rodrigues on Wednesday submitted to the Court photographs showing garbage dumped along the roads while submitting that though the Panchayats of Merces, Chimbel and Santa Cruz have been repeatedly submitting to the Court that the streets within their jurisdiction are free from garbage, the ground reality however continues to be to the contrary.
A similar issue of mushrooming illegal scrap yards in the area was also taken up.
Directing these Panchayats to file a compliance report that all the black spots were removed, the Court adjourned the hearing to April 13 while directing the Merces Panchayat to also explain how illegal scrap yards have mushroomed in the fields along the Ribandar-Merces road as well as in the mangrove areas and low lying khazan lands along the highway between Panjim and Merces.
While observing that despite several directions, the position of black spots in these Panchayat areas continues to remain substantially the same, the High Court expressed its strong displeasure over the recurring black spots.
The Contempt Petition was filed by Adv Aires Rodrigues in 2017 over the failure of the authorities to comply with the undertaking given that a garbage management plan would be in place.
