PANAJI: Perhaps the simplest way for citizens to get rid of waste is to dump it wherever they find space, or so it seems to be the case with Malim jetty near
Panaji. Mounds of debris are gradually sliding near the jetty covered with wet mud and slime.
Used fishing nets, beverage cans, empty bottles, thermacol and electrical wires were some of the few environmentally hazardous items that were discarded in and around the jetty area.
“People have been mindlessly dumping
garbage in the area because the jetty was isolated for two months owing to the mandatory fishing ban,”a boat owner said.
Prior to that, trawler workers discarded some waste, like thermacol of ice boxes and torn nets before leaving for their native places. The debris has been lying there unattended since, the boat owner said.
Speaking to TOI, one of the directors of the Mandovi Fishermen Marketing Cooperative Society Limited, who did not want to be named, admitted that the society should have taken up the responsibility of clearing the site prior to the commencement of the ban. “The panchayat has not deployed the duty of cleaning the jetty to anyone. We usually clean it ourselves. Our workers who also double as cleaners will arrive in a few days from their native places and resume their duties. We will clear it on our own since it is our responsibility,” hesaid.
