MARGAO
Just a month to go for the monsoon to set in, operations to remediate the Sonsodo legacy dump are in full swing, with the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) going about the work to remediate as much area as possible before all work comes to a halt by May 31.
Around half a dozen heavy machinery, trucks, etc are working round the clock at the Sonsodo dump for the moment. A JCB was in the process of loading the RDF in a Karnataka-registered truck before the vehicle leaves the state borders to the cement factories in the southern state.
The GWMC, which was mandated to clear the legacy dump within 36 months, may still have time left to complete the work. The Corporation, however, has given a clear task to the contractor to remediate as much area as possible before curtains comes down on the ongoing work by May 31.
GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins told 'The Goan' that the task before the Corporation is to remediate as much legacy dump as possible before the rains. “We have already dispatched 120 truckload of RDF and dry waste to the Karnataka-based cement factories. There’s a lot of remediated waste lying at Sonsodo, which is awaiting transportation to the cement factories”, he said.
Martins pointed out that the GWMC has cleared the legacy dump in and around the abandoned Ms Komex India garbage treatment plant, which will help the civic body take up construction of a waste treatment project at the site. “The area in and around the abandoned Ms Komex Plant can now be utilized by the Margao Municipal Council to set up a new plant. We had accorded priority to his area as the remediated site can be put to use by the civic body”, he said.
While one would come across a mound of waste at Sonsodo if one had to have a look from the Margao-Curtorim road, Martins pointed out that tonnes of remediated waste in the form of RDF continues to be dumped at the site awaiting transportation. “Tonnes of RDF which was generated during the remediation process could not be dispatched to the cement factories in Karnataka because of a host of factors. We are told that these cement factories also now receive RDF from other states and cities. This had an effect on the transportation of the RDF from Sonsodo and other parts of the state”, he added.
That’s not all. Martins pointed out that unlike other areas, including Vasco, the Corporation had an issue over space and had to work within the limitations.
The government had given the go-ahead for bio-remediation of the Sonsodo legacy dump, which had later come under the scanner of the High Court after a local NGO Citizens for Sonsodo filed a Public Interest Litigation pleading for early remediation of the dump.
