MARGAO
With the sewage treatment plant proposed to take care of sanitation at the Cutbona fishing jetty lying in cold storage for the last 15 months, the health authorities have sent an SOS to the Fisheries Director to at least provide mobile toilets at the fishing jetty to maintain sanitation and prevent any health hazard.
The Balli Primary Health Officer, Dr Mamata Kakodkar, brought to the notice of the Fisheries Director Dr Shamila Monteiro that sanitation is still a far cry at the Cutbona jetty, which normally plays host to around 3000-4000 migrant workforce during the peak fishing season.
In the letter, Dr Kakodkar drew the attention of the director to the application received by the Balli Primary Health Centre for NOC for the construction of the STP at the Cutbona fishing jetty May 5, 2019.
The Health Officer pointed out that the health office had asked the Fisheries Department to submit certain documents such as consent to establish the STP from the Goa State Pollution Control Board, TCP clearance order etc by letter dated May 15, 2019.
With no correspondence coming from the Fisheries Department to date on the proposed STP, the Health Officer was literally left with no option but to offer her suggestion to at least install mobile toilets to maintain sanitation and prevent a health hazard at the jetty.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Director of Fisheries, the Velim Civic and Consumer Forum has called for the urgent need for public toilets at the jetty to avert a sanitation crisis.
Forum Convenor Ramona Almeida pointed out that the forum along with Goacan has been pursuing the matter of sanitation with the Balli PHC and have also attended the meetings convened by the Deputy Collector (Margao) to resolve the issue.
“We have also seen how the lack of public toilets has resulted in open defecation in the fields near the jetty. The poor sanitation had also resulted in the spread of vector-borne diseases in the area. In fact, the core group of the task force on vector-borne disease control of DHS conducted site inspections after the death of a young woman due to dengue in 2013,” Ramona added.
Referring to the proposal to restart the operations at the Cutbona jetty from September 1, 2020, the forum has proposed as a
short-term measure to install mobile toilets at the jetty, with a suggestion to rope in an agency like Sulabh International to maintain the same.
The mobile toilets can be requisitioned from the Department of Tourism as there will be less usage of the same during this forthcoming season,” Ramona said, while urging the Fisheries Director to depute an officer to oversee the implementation of the short-term measures as well as to follow up on the long-term ones proposed by the PHC Balli.
