Varca panchayat to outsource door-to-door waste collection

Margao: The Varca panchayat announced plans to outsource door-to-door wet waste collection during its gram sabha on Sunday, even as villagers voiced concerns over unchecked development threatening the village’s infrastructure and environment.

In reply to a question posed by a gram sabha member, the panchayat said that a private contractor tasked with door-to-door collection of waste would store the wet waste in a dedicated shed before transporting it to the solid waste management plant in Cacora.

Heated discussions on mega construction projects and migrant influx dominated the meeting. Villagers expressed strong opposition to large-scale developments, with one gram sabha member warning that the village exceeded its carrying capacity, and that the situation exerted tremendous pressure on the village infrastructure, including electricity and water supply.

“As most of these buildings don’t have composting pits, garbage from these places lands in ponds and roadsides. Soon, all the wells in the villages will be contaminated,” a concerned villager said.

At one point, the villager praised Betalbatim village’s recent installation of signboards warning builders to “buy plots at your own risk”, and asked the sarpanch to consider implementing similar measures in Varca, drawing loud applause from the gathering.

Focus turned to a proposed mega project comprising over 200 units, which residents suspect will become another resort. “There are already seven resorts in Varca. Do we want more? We get no benefits from such projects. Even if they give jobs to locals, they give very low salaries,” a gram sabha member said.

The villagers demanded a special gram sabha to address the issue of the carrying capacity of the village.