Crack down on illegal roadside business: Michael Lobo to Goa govt

PANAJI: Waste management minister Michael Lobo on Thursday said that he will write to chief minister Pramod Sawant asking to stop the sale of fish, chicken and mutton along the road side and it should be allowed in designated areas identified by the village panchayats.
The government has not shelved the Bainguinim waste treatment plant project, but it has been put on hold as there is a financial crunch, he said.Once funds are available, work on the project will be taken up, the minister said.
Lobo said that he will also write to food and drugs administration minister Vishwajit Rane and fisheries minister Filip Neri Rodrigues to stop road side businesses.
In 2012, the same problem had arisen. At the time then chief minister Manohar Parrikar had directed police and the collector to remove all the illegal businesses from the road side, Lobo told reporters.
“If illegal businesses are run along the roadside, then police should confiscate the items,” he said.
The minister said that such roadside sellers will put the survival of traditional fisherman and chicken centres at stake. Locals pay fees to various government departments to run their businesses, but some people just put a plastic tent and start business, he said.
The person who has an illegal chicken centre, throws the waste in rivers, farms and agriculture land, then people agitate because of it, Lobo said.
He said that he discussed the issue with the fisheries minister. The areas by the side of the roads come under PWD so they should ensure that all these activities are stopped, the minister said.
Reacting to Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar’s statement that Lobo had changed stand over the expansion of Solid Waste Management Plant at Saligao, the minister said that during the tourism season, they get around 200 tonne garbage per day at the plant. “Where are we supposed to send that garbage?” he said.
Recently, the state cabinet approved the expansion of the Saligao garbage treatment plant’s capacity from existing 100 tonne per day to 250 tonne per day. “The proposal was approved when Salgaonkar was minister and I was director of Goa Solid Waste Management Corporation. I had opposed expansion,” he said.
The minister said that the plant will not accept garbage from anywhere except the 27 coastal village panchayats. He said that Salgaonkar is opposing the expansion of the plant because he is in opposition. “Nobody should do politics on the plant,” Lobo said.
If they want then they can approach the National Green Tribunal to stop the plant’s expansion. he said.