Acting CCP mayor apologises for inconvenience As Panjim enjoyed a breath of fresh air today after four days of garbage stench, acting mayor of the City of Corporation of Panjim, Yaten Parekh today apologised to the citizens of the city for the inconvenience caused owing to the workers' stir. Parekh speaking to Herald today said that the corporators along with the team of employees worked round the clock since late Monday night and cleared the accumulated garbage from every nook and corner of the city. While most of the garbage was cleared last night, remains at remote locations were lifted early today morning. The corporation today categorically denied allegations that the Tonca landfill site is being used to hold the city to ransom at the behest of politicos. The acting Mayor disclosed that even after chief minister assured action against the culprits in the assault of CCP Mayor, that locals residing around the site continued to object to the dumping of waste at the said site. Parekh disclosed that the CCP members had to appease the agitated lot, "Only after which the dumping operations began late on Monday night,' he said. Interestingly, the bio-reactor plant being set up by the CCP at Patto has successfully completed trial runs. However its commissioning is likely to be delayed on account of the Mayor's absence. The CCP Commissioner Sanjiv Gadkar told Herald that he did explore the possibility of starting he treatment plant during the strike. "But the quantum of accumulated waste was too large,' he said explaining further that no manpower was available to segregate the close to 70 tonnes of garbage that accumulated during the last five days. The four-day stir also witnessed a saga at the St Inez animal shelter where cattle remained starving and unattended. It is learnt that acting Mayor Parekh took timely action and had fodder supplied to the shelter.

Goyche Niz Mogi has demanded action against the mayor CCP Tony Rodrigues and deputy mayor Yatin Parekh for allowing the city to stink for four days. It was the duty of the mayor and the councilors to ensure that the city is kept clean and that garbage is disposed off regularly, president James Fernandes said pointing out that the CCP leaders cannot encourage workers to strike work for political reasons. He has questioned the Chief Secretary J P Singh as to why Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) had not been invoked against the strike of CCP workers.

Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, who is also the Panjim MLA, today said that the garbage problem caused in the capital city due to the strike called by the Corporation of City of Panaji workers, would be settled by tomorrow. Parrikar claimed that he met the CCP Mayor Tony Rodrigues on the issue in the hospital and discussed the effects of the workers stir. "The mayor was also of the opinion that the common man should not be put to hardship for the fault of someone else,' Parrikar said while addressing a press conference in the city. He said that the mayor is still recuperating from the injuries he received during the police assault and is still not able to sit or talk properly. However, he said, the common man cannot be taken to task by the workers for the police misdeeds. "If they have any grievances against the police and ministers, stop collecting garbage from their places but the common man should not suffer,' he stated. "I will speak to the concerned officials CCP commissioner, acting mayor and the councillors tomorrow and am confident the issue would be resolved by evening,' he said. When pointed out that the union leader of the CCP workers Keshav Prabhu is a BJP office bearer and he could have easily sorted out the issue for last two days Parrikar said that the strike has not been called by the union. "The workers were hurt by the police action after the stone pelting of police station wherein Mayor Tony Rodrigues and Monseratte family was manhandled and called the strike on its own and that nothing much the union leader can do,' he said.

The Orissa Pollution Control Board (OPCB) on Monday issued a closure notice to Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) for not making arrangements for the suitable disposal of solid waste. BPSL has been asked to stop all production till further orders, failing which stringent penal proceedings would be initiated against the company. BPSL currently produces 1.2 million tonnes of steel, which would subsequently be raised to 2.2 million tonnes through expansion drives.

On the second day running, there was little respite for residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad from overflowing garbage bins and containers. In several suburbs today, mountains of garbage had sprung up as officials of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation battled with complaints from residents. Since Saturday, the private vehicles owners, numbering 50, have struck work demanding hike in garbage collection amount. Health chief Dr Nagkumar Kunachgi while refusing the hike had said that the PCMC does not need the services of the private vehicle owners.

Attempting to create jobs through inefficiencies, thus forming an illusion of social development, will only amount to seeking to maintain the status quo.

In this article the authors have elaborated a consistent framework for the quantification and evaluation of eco-efficiency for scenarios for waste treatment of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Such waste systems will play an increasingly important role in the future, as there has been for many years, and still is, a significant net increase in stock in the built environment.

us-based Occupational Knowledge (ok) International recently announced the launch of

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