Staff Reporter
Pernem
It’s garbage everywhere in Pernem. Waste can be seen scattered up along the roadsides in several villages in the taluka.
While the government is saying that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is taking care of the waste management, the ground reality in the taluka tells a very different story.
Villages such as Agarwada, Corgao, Dhargal, Paliem, Mandrem and Arambol are among the worst affected, with large quantities of litter — particularly plastic waste — lying scattered along the roads.
The issue is being attributed to the growing population of tenants in these areas. The tenants here due to the lack of adequate garbage management facilities, dump their waste by the roadsides.
Even though panchayats in these villages have garbage management committees in place with the contractors appointed to take ‘care’ of the garbage management, however the collection is irregular and poorly
managed.
And, as a result, waste remains unattended for days together, sometimes even months.
“Pernem has a plastic-to-fuel facility on the plateau at Tuem. During its inauguration, it was assured that plastic waste problem in the taluka would be a thing of the past. However, it seems that the assurance has remained a mere assuarance with the plastic problem just haunting the villages here,” said a local citizen.
Nichalas Fernandes, a resident of Corgao, sharing a personal experience, said, “My five-year-old son, while walking back from school, frequently asks me as to who dumps the garbage along the roadside, and says that garbage dumping in the open is bad.”
Referring to a specific location, he said, “The roadside at Pethechawada in Corgao has been littered with plastic waste for months. The panchayat has not cleared it, and now more garbage is being dumped every day.”
Tushar Govekar, a resident of Mandrem, criticised the ‘superficial’ implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission. “Swachh Bharat exists only on paper and not in reality,” he said, pointing to the growing garbage problem in the area.
The residents across the taluka, increasingly frustrated with the mounting waste all around, have called for immediate and effective action to clean up their areas.
