'Colva fields, creek, beach, water bodies are garbage dumps'

MARGAO: Close on the heels of a campaign that saw the Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB) directing the Colva panchayat to stop hotels from discharging sewage into the Colva creek in June, Colva civic consumer forum (CCCF) on Friday filed a new complaint with the board over indiscriminate dumping of garbage in Colva.
CCCF met GSPCB officials on Friday at Panaji and produced photographs and documents to support their claim.Their complaint stated that garbage was being dumped on the Colva beach, Colva creek, in open areas, water bodies, other smaller creeks, and in low-lying fields adjacent to the roads.
"The dumping of garbage in the smaller creeks which release water into cultivated fields has to be seriously viewed and action has to be taken to stop this practice in jurisdiction of the village panchayat of Colva," said Judith Almeida, secretary, CCCF. The complaint further alleged that the panchayat had not taken concrete steps to improve or address the garbage situation in its villages. When TOI contacted Colva ward member Calvert Gonsalves, he refuted the charge that the panchayat had failed to act and said that CCF allegations against them were baseless.
"We have been intervening in this matter and in the next gram sabha we will announce our plants to set up a small sewerage treatment plant," he said.
Gonsalves added that the panchayat was planning to file a writ petition against the hotels and restaurants involved in dumping garbage in the creek.
A GSPCB inspection, earlier, had found that some hotels and restaurants lack sewerage and drainage systems and some were bereft of septic tanks, soak pits and other sanitation facilities.