MAPUSA
Door-to-door garbage collection in Mapusa has once again gone off track, with several wards reporting uncollected waste over the past few days due to labour shortage and festival-related absenteeism.
Residents across multiple wards complained that garbage workers have failed to turn up for two to three consecutive days, leaving waste piling up outside homes and creating an unpleasant situation during the Diwali festivities.
“This has become a regular nuisance. The civic body talks big about new waste management plans, but they can’t even ensure daily collection. There’s no coordination between the supervisors and the workers, and the public ends up paying the price,” said Franky Carvalho, a former councillor of Ward 7.
Councillor Komal D’Souza (Ward 13) admitted that garbage collection in her area had been disrupted for the past two days.
Similarly, Ward 15 Councillor Swapnil Shirodkar confirmed that door-to-door collection had become erratic.
“Many workers have gone on leave for the festival, but there’s also a long-pending issue of delayed payments by the contractor. Without wages, how can we expect them to work?” he said.
Surprisingly, even wards 11 to 20, where garbage collection has been outsourced to a private contractor, have been affected.
Sources revealed that apart from the holiday absenteeism, the contractor allegedly failed to clear wages for several months, worsening the manpower crunch.
However, not all areas have suffered.
Opposition councillor Shashank Narvekar said that waste collection in his ward was proceeding as usual.
When contacted, a senior Mapusa Municipal Council official acknowledged the disruption and assured that the issue was being addressed.
“Some labourers are on Diwali leave and we are facing a temporary shortage. We have instructed the contractor to deploy additional workers immediately and ensure that waste is cleared within the next 24 hours,” the official said.
