Panaji: After repeated complaints from residents about an industrial yard operating within a densely populated residential area with a school in the vicinity on Kadamba Plateau, Old Goa gram sabha on Sunday resolved to issue a stop-work order on Monday. Residents said the yard at Bainguinim is barely 20m from housing complex walls and causes noise and air pollution from 8am, with work often continuing past 11pm.Residents said they have filed multiple complaints since Nov 2025 with the forest department, Goa State Pollution Control Board and local police, citing noise and air pollution as well as deforestation. In a letter sent earlier this month to local MLA Rajesh Faldessai, they alleged that loud construction activity using heavy industrial machinery is being carried out in a high-density settlement zone behind the Bharat Petroleum pump at Bainguinim, Old Goa, opposite Sunshine World School, adjacent to Milroc Kadamba and surrounded by several housing societies.They also said the operators have neither displayed nor produced permissions from the town and country planning department for the work being carried out.“This yard work generates significant risks to thousands of citizens, seniors and children within 100m in every direction. The work is violating noise limits in a residential and school zone, with heavy machines generating over 100dB of sound levels, which regularly crosses the 55dB ambient daytime residential standard. The yard generates airborne dust, exhaust fumes and particulate emissions commonly found in areas that handle cement,” the letter stated.Residents said children from nearby schools are affected by the noise during class hours and are exposed to dust pollution while playing on school sports grounds due to the site’s proximity.They demanded an urgent inspection to verify whether the activity has the required statutory permissions, pollution-control consents and mitigation measures. They said that if the operator cannot produce approvals or address the immediate health and safety risks, the yard should be relocated to a designated industrial zone.
