What happened at the Margao Municipal Council was a classic case of how not to resolve a problem as complex as garbage collection and disposal. The confrontation between chairperson Arthur D'Silva and public spirited citizens was unnecessary because instead of forcing solution all it achieved was a scuffle, some rage and lots of hot air. The ruckus started when citizens who attended the meeting with black bands over their mouths to protest the presence of policemen outside the council hall, demanded that their queries on the Sonsodo issue be answered. This resulted in a face-off with sanitary inspector lodging a complaint that he was restrained by three persons while leaving the hall and a former councillor filing a counter complaint. An investigation will determine who pushed whom, but if the idea was to create an atmosphere for resolving the garbage issue, it was lost in the din.
The special meeting which was called to discuss problems related to the dump yard at Sonsodo and door-to-door garbage collection, concluded with the MMC making a plea to the government for Rs 2.56 crore to finance door-to-door collection. Sparks did fly at the meeting but in the end there was a realisation that without sufficient funds, garbage collection would not succeed, unless citizens decide to foot the bill. In Panaji, the municipal corporation is going to incur an additional expenditure of Rs 3 crore to collect garbage, consequent on its decision to hike daily wages of workers. Garbage collection might seem simple on paper, but in reality it requires a lot of money, which can only come from the state coffers, so unless one involves the chief minister, who is also the finance minister this problem is not likely to be resolved.
It would seem, the bone of contention between citizens and the municipality is the fate of the one lakh tonnes of old garbage which is lying at the dump. While one school of thought says that the dump must be capped and there are rules governing such a procedure, another is of the opinion that all the garbage must be segregated. Public spirited citizens for some reason have sided with the second option. On what basis has this decision been taken? While those in favour of capping point to the dump yard in Gorai which was successfully capped, those against it have no example to cite. The Pimpri Chinchwad municipality in Pune has started the second phase of capping. The Ahmedabad municipal corporation has also taken a decision to cap its dump yard. Where in India has old garbage been excavated and sieved? This is a question the public spirited citizens need to ask themselves before making a demand to scrap the proposal to cap the Sonsodo dump.
To cap or not to cap is a decision that needs to be evaluated by experts not common citizens who are either not in full possession of the facts or unable to grasp the technical details of the process. We certainly need to debate on which of the two procedures would suit Sonsodo, but this cannot be accomplished through confrontation. And arguing with a council facing fresh elections in a few months not only seems futile, but also gives the impression that vested interests are stoking the Sonsodo fire with an eye on the polls.
