Dear Saligaonettekars, On Wednesday 13 July 2011 08:29 PM, Yvon.Gmail wrote:
We all need to acknowledge your selfless concern for the village and the action you have taken in spite of knowing the unsuccessful attempts in the past to prevent this problem from snowballing out of control.
Without knowing that Dean had made his complaint, Rudy Saldanha set the ball rolling here in Sonarbhatt, a few weeks ago, by phoning us and asking if we too were getting the unbearable stench. We do not suffer as much, and thought that it was some more localised, open air toilet activity.
Since then Rudy, Arun Sawant and the 4 of us (M&M and our children Tarika & Suhail) have been working on getting a campaign off the ground.
A planned public meeting got postponed several times, so that the issue will now be discussed at the Gram Sabha, coming Sunday, the 17 (see attached letter and handout to GS members).
Since the public meeting was taking time to materialise, Rudy, Arun, Sitaram Mahale (Tato the tailor) both from Salmona, another young married woman from Salmona and Mario spent over an hour on Monday, 11 July morning, discussing the problem with Dilip Parulekar the present MLA. A tentative action plan was formulated, the start of which is to have the MLA present at the coming GS and to pass the resolutions mentioned in the attachment.
We take this opportunity to request our previous MLA Dr. Wilfred D'Souza and his son-in-law Tulio DeSouza to join the villagers, Panchayat and MLA on Sunday to draw up a unified plan of action to solve this "stinking", polluting and hazardous health problem, once and for all.
We hear that Tulio is an aspiring MLA of our constituency and that he is already paving the way for contesting the coming elections. We appeal to him, his father-in-law and mentor Dr. Willy, the present Saligao panchayat members, the sitting MLA and all of us villagers to *sink* our political and other differences - and ambitions! - and work unitedly to solve this 25-year old plague of our village.
*Sink (our differences) or stink (for another quarter of a century)* is the choice before us on Sunday!
Since the beginning of the monsoons I used to get this terrible dirty smell which made me want to puke and not knowing where it was coming from i walked around everyday trying to find out who was throwing garbage and where. Only a few days back someone told me it was coming from the garbage dump on the hill.
In the monsoons, the rotting garbage of coastal hotels from Sinquerim to Anjuna, causes a stench of raw, human excreta on the one hand to every putrefying, "puke" inducing aroma you can imagine, on the other. The effect it is having on Yvonne is not an exaggeration. Till Rudy phoned us and called us out to inhale Saligao's latest, in vogue perfume, we would never have believed that a village so cultured, so elite so sophisticated could tolerate such a range of chic fragrances for so many years!
But alas we have tolerated it and are now, once more, stirring into action. Our hope is that this time our struggle will succeed.
Another problem I have experienced is the pack of stray dogs that enter the compound break flower-pots,chew up rugs and slippers left in the balcao and leave a stinking mess on my lawn.More than the nusiance caused I was concerned about the school children who could get bitten on their way to and from school.I called up the panchayat and our panch member said he was facing the same problem and he did not know of any authority who could do something about it. There is no dept. or NGO that can get rid of stray dogs.I am still making enquiries.
Doggies...bow,wow...how cute!There are over 200 of them that populate what is left of the tree cover around the dump. They breed there and have now organised themselves into wild packs that prowl the hill. They emerge from the foliage, on cue, for gourmet, 5-star cuisine served by the garbage trucks that roll in at appointed times.
And with the dogs, guess who else comes to dinner? - foxes; rats and bandicoots; cockroaches, common house flies and similar disease spreading pests; kites, egrets and crows; and yes...village cows and dogs.
As an extension of Yvonne's observation, the garbage dump harbours the very real danger of rabies as well as other epidemics in Saligao and the surrounding villages. As Nicholas Sequeira warned us so poignantly in public, many moons ago: "We live with a time bomb ticking over our heads!"
If you need support of some kind count me in.
'Porbim tukam, Yvonne'...expect a phone call soon! This is the kind of action we need. People who will put their hands up...and occasionally into their pockets, if and when the struggle needs it.
More later...it is only 3.22 am! Warm regards and solidarity. M&M. -- ................................................................ there *is* anOTHERgoa at <http://www.anothergoa.blogspot.com> & <http://www.youtube.com/anothergoa> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' muriel & mario, c/o "FULKAR", 6/22, sonarbhatt, saligao. bardez. goa. 403511. tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999 <anothergoa AT gmail.com> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' --Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
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pchayat_gramsabha_130711.doc
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