A JCB involved in loading the waste from the old fish market dump into trucks for transportation to the Sonsodo waste management site. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
A day after a massive fire engulfed the waste dump at the Old fish market behind the Margao Municipal building, a JCB was working overtime at the site on Saturday to lift away the waste for transportation to the Sonsodo waste management site.
By evening, a good portion of the old fish market was cleared of the waste, including coconut waste, thermocol and mixed waste dumped by the civic body, but the burning issue of disposal of the coconut waste and garden waste seemed far from over.
It’s not uncommon to find coconut waste mounds at several parts of the commercial capital, with the civic body struggling to dispose of the waste. Ban on sale of tender coconuts by the civic body had failed to bring the desired results. That’s not all. With most of the Goan households using coconut every day, disposal of the waste, including shells and husk, have been staring at the civic officials over the last few months, but in vain.
Plans to get a coconut waste disposal machine through Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) have come a cropper after the bids invited by the agency had no takers.
Making matter worse for the door-to-door waste collectors is the storage and disposal of the coconut shells and husks. Since the workers engaged by the private contractors have been told not to send the coconut waste to Sonsodo, the workers have been left with no option than to store the waste along the road sides.
A case in point is the coconut waste dump at Pajifond just behind the BPS club. The mound height has been increasing by the day, with fears being raised in local circles that the waste may be engulfed by fire aka the fire that engulfed the dump behind the Margao Municipal building on Friday.
What’s interesting to note is that the MMC has no solution at hand to address the burning issue of coconut waste disposal. A short cut resorted to by the Margao Municipality last year by disposing off the waste in neighbouring Benaulim village had come under intense criticism from villagers and environmentalists.
‘The MMC has began to feel the heat on the coconut waste disposal when the High Court issued directions to stop garden and dry waste dumping at the GSUDA land near the KTC bus stand last year. Since then, the issue of disposal of coconut waste has been staring at the civic body. Let’s wait and see whether any solution will be forthcoming in the near future”, remarked an official.
