Mormugao Municipal Council’s (The Goan on October 6) bid toupgrade its’s Municipal Solid Waste disposal facility at Sada may well havebeen an effort to hoodwink High Court and push through a landfill in the heartof the City. Investigations reveal that MMC’s Expression of Interest forConsultancy Services to upgrade the existing facility at Sada that wasadvertised in two local newspapers on June 13, had also made a mention of alandfill facility at Maimollem. Enquiries reveal that nobody in the Municipalityhad been taken into confidence for pushing forth this landfill site.
“The landfill site at Maimollem is just in initial stagesand only proposed. There are no Council resolutions for the same. Some localsare objecting to this plus we are also awaiting Goa State Pollution ControlBoard’s NOC” says Sarita Palkar, Chairperson, MMC. Though Palkar is honest that there are no Councilresolutions for the same, what is shocking is how did the Council then issue anEOI naming Maimollem as the landfill site? There is more to what meets the eyeat the Council.
Inquiries confirm that a select group of powerfulCouncillors and MMC Officials are very much in the knowhow of Maimollem as thelandfill site. “We have filed an affidavit in late August-early September thisyear to High Court naming Maimollem as the landfill site” confirms AnandSatoskar, MMC’s Legal Officer in charge. Satoskar was in charge when High Courtof Bombay at Goa had on August 16, 2010 in Writ Petition No. 153/2010 directedthe Council that the existing garbage site (at Headland Sada) allotted by StateGovernment could not be used for land filling purposes. MMC still continues touse that location as a landfill despite HC’s orders. The new clandestineintroduction of Maimollen area s landfill has shocked the residents of Vasco’sgreen lung.
“I have already objected to this idea and the Council neverresolved to declare this area as a landfill” says ward Councillor Neny D’Souza.Neny who already has launched a signature campaign with most of the localresidents opposing the proposal has promised mass protest if the Councilforcibly went ahead.
The 6200 square metre MMC owned land proposed for landfillis situated under 50 metres from Maimollem and less than a 100 metres fromKabrastan, the Muslim burial ground at Maimollem. “I am shocked that despitebeing a part of the ruling group, I was not taken into confidence. This act ofthe Council will hurt the sentiments of our community and we are not going toallow any such project near Kabrastan” promises Saifull Khan, the lone MuslimCouncillor in MMC.
Renowned for its green cover, Maimollem at the heart of theMangor, Vaddem valley may end up being an environmental nightmare. Even MMCinsiders like Municipal Engineer Diniz D’Melo agrees “I doubt that GSPCB wouldgive NOC as the site is adjacent to Maimollem lake as it would threaten topollute the lake.” The fact that the site will need CRZ permission beingadjacent to Vaddem Creek points to a more serious threat to the ecology.
