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GOAN GARBAGE, GOLD!
By Valmiki Faleiro
Nobody loves garbage. That is a truism. It also is a splendid part of our Goan
Identity.
Cleanliness is next to godliness and the Goan housewife understands it well.
Watch how
she conscientiously cleans her house and precincts spic and span, sweeping,
swabbing,
cleaning and collecting every spec of dust and garbage, and promptly tossing it
into the
neighbour’s yard.
>From a hamlet in Sattari to a township in Salcete, it’s the same everywhere:
>Goans and
garbage do not mix, regardless of caste, creed, wealth, or education. So much
that this,
our celebrated trait, has evolved into an acronym: NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard!)
Blame it on NIMBY, our towns stink and a once clean countryside is pockmarked
with
assorted refuse. Because the State has been unable to find acceptable garbage
sites.
No town or village wants garbage from other towns or villages, but wants its
own dirt
dumped elsewhere. Nobody fancies garbage in one’s backyard, even if it is one’s
own.
Much less a dustbin, even if on a road across one’s house. Garbage bins have
developed feet -- and begun migrating.
There was a recent ruckus in Margao, when a bin ‘moved’ after a swanky new
building
emerged behind it in the Grace Church area. In the Holy Spirit Church area
where I live,
a dustbin that existed at Mons. Ganganelli Rebelo Road since bins were
introduced in
colonial times suddenly shifted to a narrow lane by the Holy Spirit school,
where a bin
already existed. I wouldn’t object to two bins in such close proximity. More
the merrier.
The problem is the lane is so narrow that the side-loading garbage trucks block
traffic for
twice as long as before, having to empty two bins -- and forcing long detours
along our
one-way streets. The duo of privileged dustbins in this lane is at a distance
of some 40
metres ... and the nearest ones are a quarter kilometre away, at Old Market and
Borda!
For us, lay people, garbage is a stink: we immediately hold a handkerchief to
our nose.
For our ingenious politicians, garbage is gold: forget handkerchiefs, they will
delightfully
sniff around for more. What you and I regard as adversity, they see as new
opportunity.
These wizards have turned Goa’s grave problem with garbage, into gold.
I do admire Joaquim Alemao’s entrepreneurial spirit. As Minister for Urban
Development,
he is ultimately responsible for Goa’s urban garbage. He has a Midas touch in
whatever
he does for the public good. Together with his cohorts in the cash cow called
the State
Urban Development Authority (SUDA), he flipped Goa’s garbage glut to gain.
The Sakhardandes of Mala-Panjim pioneered in Goa, if I err not, the technique of
vermiculture in composting garbage, at their farm in Taleigao some three
decades ago.
More recently, HR Prabhudessai, a Senior Training Assistant at ICAR’s ‘Krishi
Vigyan
Kendra’ at Old Goa, popularized use of Effective Microorganisms (EM) in
composting.
Combining the two, Goa Foundation effectively managed Margao’s Sonsodo dump at
one lakh Rupees a month. Trouble is, cost-effective composting wouldn’t rub
well with
the establishment.
Eight crore Rupees are being splurged off the slopes of Sonsodo via SUDA, the
omnipotent cow not bound by standard public expenditure norms -- on some ‘Closed
Vessel Composting’ technology, untested anywhere in India. Half that amount was
almost siphoned off in a daylight pre-election heist, foiled by the project’s
consultants.
Joaquim Alemao is back as Urban Dev. Minister, the consultants on the way out.
Forget the fact that we can’t find place to dump the dirt, another Rs.1.25
crores is swept
off in style: on five ‘sweeping machines’ purchased without call of tenders and
without
engines to run them. Forget "cart before horse." Here are five Alemaoian
auriferous carts
without a single horse, before or after. Forget the stink over buying ‘garbage
compactor’
trucks, at Rs.14 lakh apiece. Forget that the compactors purchased for Zilla
Parishads
were not used for a day ... in remote Sanguem, the chairperson and chief
officer are
embroiled in war about a ‘doctored’ Council resolution -- over the purchase of,
what else,
compactors. Forget the stink of Goa’s garbage; just remember it also is gold.
‘CHAKA-CHAK’ CHAMATKAR: When politicos lead the way, can babus be far behind?
The stink on "Mission Chaka-Chak Panaji" was out. While volunteers worked
honestly
on the initiative of garbage segregation and banning plastic, looks like
Sanjith Rodrigues
took them, and the Panjim municipality, on a jolly ride: files and record of
bank accounts
of 'Chaka-Chak’ did the 'Chamatkar' : of vanishing into thin air! (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the September 9, 2007 edition of the Herald, Goa
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ECAP 2007 - Computer Society of India - Goa Chapter inaugurates its 15th
Exhibition of Computers & Allied Products at Hotel Mandovi, Panaji
at 9:30am on Sep 8, 2007 at the hands of Mr. M. N. Rao - Advisor & Director
(IT) Department of Computer Science - Government of Goa.
All are cordially Invited
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