Driving up a road surrounded by lush, green hills, you realise why Goa is called paradise. But lately a massive garbage problem has turned life hellish for us locals and the thousands of tourists. As you go further up that road, the stench hits you, and then the blinding and dizzying smoke starts choking you. This is the Assagao landfill and it has been on fire since December 2013. I live one kilometer away from this landfill and breathe these toxic fumes everyday. Often, I can see the flames burn up the night sky.

This unlined landfill is being run illegally by the Mapusa Municipal Council. Everyday unsegregated garbage from Mapusa block, to the tune of 10 tonnes to a day, is dumped on the already accumulated 20,000 tonnes of garbage. The toxic liquid is leaching into the soil and the fumes from the fires pose a serious health and environmental hazard to me and 2500 people living in its vicinity.

The problem gets worse in the summers, and in the past 3 years the residents of Marna, Assagaon, Ganeshpuri, Ektanagar and Laxminagar in Mapusa block in North Goa have been the worst affected. Many have trouble breathing at night and complain of eye-infections. There is a school barely 500 metres away from this landfill. Think of the number of children who are exposed to this unhealthy environment for eight hours a day!

We are ready to do our bit, including work within the community on garbage segregation. The High Court Mumbai bench and recently the Goa State Pollution Control board have issued orders to the Mapusa Municipal Council immediately on this matter. Clearly, MMC are in blatant violation of norms laid down for management of solid wastes in India. We have tried many avenues and are now protesting the apathy of the authorities.

The landfill not only has severe health implications for all of us, it is also an eye-sore. As a state that depends so heavily on tourism, how can we let it remain so dirty? We don’t want to live in a poisonous environment where our families continue to fall sick and our land becomes un-inhabitable. You can help us prevent this.

We urge the District Collector to ensure that the fires at the Assagao landfill are doused and dealt with as per the Management of Solid Waste Rules 2013 immediately. We want permanent systems to be put in place so that this does not occur again.