New solid waste management plant inside Verna Industrial Estate promises cleaner environment

1,000 jobs provided to fresh graduates this year by VIA through job fairs.

Goa Khabar: A brand new, solid waste management (SWM) plant started inside the Verna Industrial Estate, promises to mitigate the waste management challenges of the units and factories operating inside Goa’s largest industrial estate. This follows a consistent demand made by the Verna Industries Association (VIA) to the Goa industrial development corporation (GIDC).

Stating this in the media release issued on the occasion of VIA’s annual general meeting(AGM) held in the city on Friday, Kalpak Arware, President, VIA said that the SWM initiative would be run by Yimby for a period of 10 years. This is in line with the VIA’s “Mission Clean and Green” initiative.

Arware said that under this mission, tree plantations, rain water harvesting, beautifications and building sustainable waste management systems were the key focus areas.

According to Ramakrishnan Kannan, general secretary, Verna Industries Association (VIA), the SWM plant which began operations in August this year, had started collecting dry waste from 43 units inside Verna industrial estate to begin with. He was confident that the facility would cover more than 500 units across Verna and Sancoale industrial estates very soon. “Wet waste collection will start in about one month’s time. The biggest gain of the new SWM is that Verna industrial estate will be self-reliant for garbage and waste disposal within the industrial estate, making it possibly the first such industrial estate in the country to achieve this feat.”  

Highlighting other key initiatives undertaken by VIA in the year 2025-26, Arware said VIA had provided jobs to over 1,000 local youth who were fresh graduates through job fairs held at Verna, Chicalim and Curtorim. Also, several units inside the Verna industrial estate had provided employment to self-help group women from villages around Verna.

According to Arware, an electric bus of the KTC had begun operating inside the Verna industrial estate at hourly intervals based on a demand made by employees working inside VIA.

Arware also pointed out that INR 3,000 to INR 4,000 crores was waiting to be invested by the members of the VIA over the next five years. “Most of this investment is promised by manufacturing companies. VIA is working with the government to facilitate these investments, as there is serious competition from neighbouring states to lure this business away with various lucrative incentives,” Arware said.

NINE school toppers granted scholarships by VIA

Nine students who topped their schools in the SSC examination of March 2026 from schools situated in villages surrounding Verna were felicitated with merit certificates and individual scholarships of INR 5,000 each sponsored by VIA and its members Lupin and Novacare respectively after the VIA annual general meeting on Friday.