MARGAO
Days after the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) issued show cause notices to the meat stalls in the SGPDA market, 21 out of the 26 meat vendors on Monday applied to the board for consent to operate.
GSPCB officials, however, remained tight-lipped about whether the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) had applied to the Pollution Control Board for consent to operate.
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira during his interaction with the SGPDA meat vendors and officials of the SGPDA, GSPCB and Additional Collectors, Srinet Kothwale and Uday Prabhudesai, had directed SGPDA Member Secretary Sheikh Ali to apply to the Pollution Control Board for consent to operate the PDA mega market complex.
The Environment Minister had further told the SGPDA member secretary to submit the plan for how the planning body will go about setting up an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in the PDA market complex.
Sources in the GSPCB informed that out of the total 27 meat vendors, 21 vendors have applied to the Board for consent to operate. Around four meat vendors are believed to have moved the Administrative Tribunal against the show cause notice issued by the GSPCB to close down the premises for discharging wastewater in the drains.
Senior district officials in private pointed out that since the SGPDA owns the mega retail market at Old Market, the planning body must provide the bare minimum amenities, including an effluent treatment plant to treat the wastewater generated in the market before it is released in the stormwater drains.
