------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do GOACAN a favour, circulate this email to your family members, relatives, neighbours and friends. Help others be BETTER INFORMED ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Activists halt construction of hazardous waste landfill site at Cuncolim Industrial Estate in South Goa on Earth Day. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today on the occasion of Earth Day 22nd April, on receiving a complaint that some illegal activities were being conducted by some personnel linked to the construction of a hazardous waste landfill site within the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, volunteers of the Cuncolim Civic and Consumer Forum and GOACAN visited the location and noted that work was being undertaken by a Road Roller, L & T Komatsu excavator and more than eight trucks were dumping mud at the site. On questioning the workmen on the site it was evident that the vehicles were being operated by personnel who did not have the required operating licences to use the vehicles. Moreover, the Forum volunteers also noticed that the mandatory boards stating Name of the Project and the Agency that is executing the same, Name and address of the Contractor implementing the project, the mandatory licences from the various Govt. agencies i.e. Land Conversion from Town & Country Planning Dept., approval from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for the construction of the landfill site, licence from the Labour Inspector for the workmen on the site, details of the site supervisor and the emergency number were not displayed. The Forum volunteers then contacted Mr. Siddhant Shirodkar, Police Inspector, Cuncolim Police Station and called for immediate police intervention. On the arrival of the posse of Police personnel led by PSI Kapil Naik and the General Manager, Shri Anup Mishra from M/s Nicomet Industries Pvt. Ltd., the Forum volunteers demanded immediate stoppage of work which was being carried out at the site. The Forum volunteers briefed the Police Officer present on the violations of the various procedures at the site after which Mr. Anup Mishra, agreed to stop all works being carried out and gave an assurance that they would only recommence the work once the various issued raised by the Consumer Forum were complied with. The Consumer Forum in a written complaint to the Cuncolim Police Station has demanded that no construction work on the landfill site be allowed until the mandatory licences from the Govt. agencies such as land conversion from Town & Country Planning Dept., approval from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for the construction of the landfill site after preparing the EIA and the Public Hearing, licence from the Labour Inspector for the workmen on the site and approval / NOC from GIDC to undertake the construction of a landfill site be displayed on a board. The complaint states that the name of the project, the name of the agency executing the same and the name and address of the Contractor implementing the project must be displayed on a board, a Site Manager who is conversant with all the licences and approvals must be present at the site at all times, and the personnel operating the heavy earth moving equipment e.g. JCB, excavator etc. must have a proper operating licence. The complaint further states that the mud being used at the construction site has to be supplied by a Contractor who has a valid licence from the Town & Country Planning Department and the Department for Mines & Minerals and the source of the mud must be from a site which has been duly identified by the concerned Dept. The Forum volunteers emphasized that having the necessary approvals and licences and following of procedures was more important than the proposition of M/s. Nicomet Industries Pvt. Ltd. that the construction work must be quickly finished before the onset of the forthcoming monsoons. Copies of the complaint were sent to the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Goa, Chairman, Goa State Pollution Control Board, Collector and District Magistrate, South Goa, Chief Town Planner, Town and Country Planning Dept., Dept. of Mines and Minerals, Goa Industrial Development Corporation, Labour Commissioner, DySP, SDPO Margao, Chief Officer, Cuncolim Municipal Council and Mr. Oscar Martins from Cuncolim the Petitioner of the Public Interest Litigation. Later the Forum volunteers visited the devastated hills from where the mud was excavated illegally and have decided to file formal complaints with the Town and Country Planning Dept. for violation under Section 17A of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act 1974 and demand action under Section 17B of the Act so that appropriate offences be registered against the owner of the JCB and the trucks involved in the transportation of the mud. The Forum has also decided to take up with Dr. L.U. Joshi, Chairman of the Goa State Pollution Control Board, the unauthorized construction of the hazardous waste landfill site by M/s. Nicomet Industries at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate as the mandatory EIA and Public Hearing have not been complied with thereby putting the lives of the consumers of Cuncolim in serious danger. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Release from Cuncolim Civic and Consumer Forum [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- GOA CIVIC AND CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK ---------------------------------------------------------- promoting civic and consumer rights in Goa ---------------------------------------------------------- GOACAN Post Box 187 Margao, Goa 403 601 GOACAN Post Box 78 Mapusa, Goa 403 507 mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------- __._,_.___
