Calangute: The sewage treatment plant (STP) at Baga has partially suspended operations after untreated sewage discharged from the STP started washing up on Baga beach, turning it black, local MLA Michael Lobo said on Friday.Lobo said the Baga STP has stopped accepting sewage tankers as they were bringing faecal sludge. “They were bringing old sludge from hotel septic tanks which cannot be treated at the Baga STP. All that sludge was going on Baga beach which had become black, so we had to stop the sewage tankers. We have told them to stop bringing sludge,” he said.Following this, on Thursday sewage tanker owners from Calangute-Baga held a meeting in front of the STP at Baga to highlight their grievances, urging sewerage corporation chairperson Sankalp Amonkar and Lobo to take steps to resume operations at the STP at the earliest.“The STP has stopped taking our sewage tankers for the last 20 days and has largely stopped because of pollution in the Baga river. Only a few tankers belonging to the panchayats are being allowed. We tanker owners are registered with the STP. But with the STP suspending operations our tankers are lying idle,” tanker owners said.They alleged that only households and small commercial premises have been connected to the sewerage pipeline, while large hotels and resorts continue to use sewage tankers.“It is not feasible for us to keep our tankers without any business for as long as the loan instalments have to be paid. This has also affected hotels which use our tankers. Sending tankers to the STP in Panaji is also not feasible as they only accept 15 tankers per day and we get a slot after around 15 days,” tanker owners said.Lobo said only the sewage treatment plants in Panaji and Margao are equipped to take faecal sludge, he said. “The new STP at Guirim will also be able to treat sludge. The Baga STP can only take treated toilet waste water from small sewage plants in hotels, not sludge. The tankers can be allowed again if they stop bringing sludge,” he said.
