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Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service
& circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network
(GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ph:2252660
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Will govt's new initiative on garbage disposal pay off?
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Compactors for garbage collection, coupled with directions to earmark
Rs one lakh for sanitation around the countryside is a laudable step by
the Directorate of Panchayats, but the absence of a dumping yard to
dispose off garbage might put spokes in the wheels of the scheme.
A case in point is the two coastal panchayats of Colva and Benaulim
and the urbanised villages of Rumdamol and Navelim, all in Salcete.
Till a year and half ago, the Department of Tourism was undertaking
the task of collecting garbage generated at Benaulim and Colva.
Garbage bins were placed at various locations for collection of the
waste, while a municipal truck would then take a round of these
illages, collect the waste and dump the same at Sonsodo.
Today, the garbage collection truck is no more seen around these
villages, and neither are the overflowing bins emptied regularly.
The reason: The Margao Municipality has stopped accepting garbage
at Sonsodo from beyond its jurisdiction as the yard turned the saturation
point.
Says Colva Sarpanch, Annie Mascarenhas: "I feel the garbage problem
facing Colva is more of disposal than collection. A disposal centre
should automatically take care of our requirements". And, in the
absence of any mechanism for garbage disposal, the waste is
burnt in the bins by the panchayat labourers.
In neighbouring Benaulim, the situation is not anything different.
Since the collection van of the Tourism department stopped more
than a year and half, lifting and disposal of garbage has come to a
standstill. Today, the bins are overflowing with all type of waste,
including animal carcasses.
Director of Panchaayts, P M Borkar, however, says the responsibility
lies on the panchayat bodies to have its own garbage dumping facility.
"The panchayat bodies should identify vacant land in their areas.
They cannot go on dumping garbage in the jurisdiction of other areas",
he said.
In this connection, Borkar said the government will even consider
assisting those panchayats desiring to acquire land to set-up a
dumping facility. "Let the panchayats first submit their proposal",
he said.
Some of the panchayats, such as Rumdamol-Davorlim in Salcete,
has hardly any space left for a garbage dump. Says Sarpanch
Ulhas Tuemkar: "Our panchayat area has no land even to expand
the housing colony. The government has to find out a solution".
Tuemkar says the panchayat's novel method to dump garbage
in pits has its own limitations. "All the eights pits dug up are now
full of garbage. We aren't sure whether to dump the garbage next",
he added. According to him, atleast 50 per cent of the urbanised
panchayat bodies are facing the problem of dumping.
What might come as a big set back for some of the urbanised
panchayats in South Goa is the ongoing agitation against the
proposed garbage dumping site at Bendorem in Balli. When the
government had announced disposal site for the two districts,
panchayats such as Benaulim, Colva and others had heaved a
sigh of relief as that would answer their acute garbage problem,
only to now hope against hope even as the agitation showed
signs of going out of hand.
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HERALD 9/9/03 page 3
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GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE
Documentation + Education + Solidarity
11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507
Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.goadesc.org
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Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy
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