MARGAO
At a time when grandiose plans are discussed and deliberated at the Goa Legislative Assembly and outside to address the waste imbroglio plaguing the State’s Commercial capital, Margao’s lone waste treatment plant, the 5TPD Bio-methanation plant, which has been treating the city’s waste since 2021, is finally down and out.
The bio-methanation plant, decked up with a fresh coat of paint after undergoing repairs and renovation, at the SGPDA mega retail fish market, will no longer treat wet waste generated in the city. Reason: The six month consent to operate issued by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to the Margao Municipal Council has expired. That’s not all. As per the GSPCB’s diktat, the Margao Municipal is mandated to discontinue the operation of the 5TPD bio-methanation plant within six months. Since the GSPCB had issued the directive on February 2 last, Margao Municipal officials pointed out that 5TPD bio-methanation plant is now technically down and out not only because the consent to operate has lapsed, but the GSPCB had in clear terms told the civic body to discontinue operation of the plant after the six month time-frame, which expired on Friday last.
This implies that the Margao Municipal Council does not treat even a tonne out of the 30-odd tonnes of waste generated in the commercial capital and the entire quantity of waste is transported to the Cacora waste treatment plant for disposal at a huge cost on transportation, around Rs 14.5 lakh per month to be precise.
A Margao Municipal official told The Goan that the civic body had recently written to the private agency to resume operations of the waste treatment plant, but in vain. “The contractor did not resume operations of the plant after the repairs and renovation work despite the fact that the GSPCB had issued the consent to operate to the civic body. The MMC had also received the nod from the PWD to treat the digestive slurry generated by the 5TPD Plant at the Sewage Treatment plants at Sirvodem. But, the bio-methanation plant somehow could not resume operations after the repair and renovation work”, the official said.
The MMC official added: “We do not know the fate of the 5TPD bio-methanation plant. There are two aspects to the issue. One, the GSPCB’s consent to operate order issued on January 29, 2024, valid for a period of six months has expired. Secondly, GSPCB’s direction issued on February 2, 2024 to the MMC to discontinue the operation of the 5TPD Bio-methanation plant within six months has also come into force from Friday last. It’s now for the government to take a call”.
Launched with much fanfare in 2021, the 5TPD bio-methanation plant is one of the three plants tendered by the Margao civic body three years ago in a bid to resolve the waste problem staring at the city. Apart from treatment of wet waste, promises were handed out the bio-methanation plant would generate revenue for the civic body in lieu of supplying power generated at the plant to the grid. Sadly, power generated at the plant could not be sold to the power grid due to logistic issues.
The plant ran into controversies last year after local resident of Fatorda led by MLA Vijai Sardesai complained that the digestive slurry generated during the waste treatment process was discharged in the adjoining fields, contaminating the fields and water bodies adjoining the SGPDA market.
The last straw came when Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira inspected the plant after assuming office last year. Though the private agency repaired and renovated the plant, it did not resume operations after the GSPCB’s orders on January 29 and February 2.
