MARGAO: The Velim Civic and Consumer Forum on Friday lodged its strong objection to the acquisition of land admeasuring 30,000 sq mts for the Cutbona project.

In her objection filed before the Land Acquisition Officer, Forum secretary Ramona Almeida said the VCCF joins the people of Velim in their demand for scrapping of the eco-sensitive khazan farm lands at Cutbona, which seeks to favour a few.

In the light of careless handling of hazardous material by private companies at Cuncolim Industrial Estate, the government has been forced to step in and work out a solution. But shouldn’t stringent environmental safeguards be built into the industrial and investment policies to arrest fly-by-night operators, asks Guilherme Almeida

MARGAO: A whopping 25,000 tons of hazardous waste generated by Sunrise Zinc Ltd is ticking like a time bomb at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate and neither the present firm occupying the plot- the Axis, nor the State Bank of India has cared to act responsibly in disposing off the waste, with the result that the Goa State Industrial Development Corporation (GSIDC)

MARGAO: The Land Acquisition Officer, Margao played truant as farmers and local citizens from Velim turned up for hearing on the land acquisition for the Cutbona fisheries project on Wednesday.

When the farmers made their presence felt at the office of the LA officer in the district Collectorate, they found to their shock the Land Acquisition Officer, Shagun Velip absent. As a result, officials attached to the Land Acquisition office adjourned the matter by fixing the hearing on September 13.

MARGAO: Sample testing of well waters in the vicinity of the Sonsodo waste dumping site by the Goa State Pollution Control Board has revealed high levels of coliform.

Well water sample of Vishal Gude, a resident of Amrutnagar-Sonsodo put the total coliform to 490 as against the permissible limit of 10. Similarly, the feacal coliform was around 170 when it ought to have been nil.

MARGAO: Newly-elected Velim Sarpanch Melvyn Sanches on Monday said he along with the Panchayat body are fully supporting the demand of the villagers for scrapping of the land acquisition process for the expansion of the Cutbona fishing jetty.

Melvyn was elected unopposed as Velim sarpanch on Monday after his candidature was proposed by Cruz Fernandes and seconded by Assis Pinto.

MARGAO: Fomento Green has finally asked the Margao Municipal Council to pay the first installment amounting to Rs 1.30 crore, even as the company is bracing up to conduct trial runs of waste treatment plant at Sonsodo by month end.
The company has dashed off a letter reminding the Civic body to make the payments, which was supposed to be made at the time of signing of the Concession agreement.

MARGAO: In a development that will give further boost to the Velim anti-land Acquisition movement, boat owners from Cutbona ward on Sunday came out strongly against the government’s move to acquire 30,000 square meters of land for the fishing jetty expansion.

At a meeting held at Carxetta-Velim on Sunday evening, all the eight boat owners owning around 15 fishing vessels told the ward people that they are against the government’s plans to expand the jetty by acquiring additional land.

MARGAO: Velim roared on Wednesday as villagers came out strongly against the government’s decision to go ahead with the land acquisition process to acquire 30,000 square metres of land for the Cutbona jetty expansion.

Bowing to the demands and sentiments of the villagers, members of the Velim Panchayat have agreed to resign after a certain time-frame, while Velim MLA Benjamin D’Silva has assured to support the villagers cause and move the government to get the land acquisition process scrapped.

MARGAO: Cavelossim gram sabha on Sunday witnessed a debate on the question of waste management system with agitated members demanding to know whether the starred hotels have put such a system in place for disposal of their waste.

The gram sabha adopted a resolution asking the panchayat to immediately write to the Goa State Pollution Control Board to find out whether the starred hotels dotting the village have any waste management place in place and the list of contractors handling the waste, besides their mode of disposal.

MARGAO: Hospicio’s non-functioning lift and accumulated bio-medical waste came to haunt the authorities once again, with visitors to the hospital questioning the storage of the waste along the passage leading to the paediatric ward, even as the hospital lift broke down once again, stranding a staffer on Tuesday.

The presence of the bio-medical waste on the passage leading to the paediatric ward invited ire from a group of visitors, who demanded to know why the waste is not cleared from the hospital in a time-bound manner. “The waste is easily accessible to the children.