Panjim finally cleared of garbage
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.