Garbage issues top priority for Parrikar

Goa could emulate garbage management techniques from European countries like Germany, Austria and Italy, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told a meeting of state environment protection council Thursday.

Parrikar said he was "personally interested" in addressing the garbage issue. He said monitoring the garbage management situation in the state is a top priority for his office.

"A team will be sent to see the working of (garbage management) technology in Germany, Austria and Milan," Parrikar said. Two garbage treatment plants are being set up based on learning gained from trips to these European countries.

Parrikar has already planned to emulate Kaiserslautern's garbage management system in the state, after he was impressed with the manner in which the German town handled its garbage issues.

Tourism in Goa increased nearly three-fold in the last decade or so, and the state has been unable to handle the cubic tonnes of garbage generated.

The inability of the state government to identify a single site big enough to dispose both organic and non-organic garbage has compounded the issue.

As a result, it is not unusual to find piles of garbage strewn along the roads as well as near urban hubs in this beach tourism destination, visited by 2.6 million tourists each year.

Goa Governor B.V. Wanchoo in his speech at the council meeting asked Goans to "leave aside politics and criticism for a while and concentrate on practical solutions of the continuing problem of garbage".