All eyes on new MMC chief’s Dec 5 meet

MARGAO
Sonsodo garbage and streamlining waste collection is set to take centre stage at the first meeting of the Margao Municipal Council headed by newly-elected Chairperson Damu Shirodkar scheduled on December 5.

Issues relating to Sonsodo and garbage form major components of the agenda listed out for the December 5 meeting by the new Municipal Chairperson, reflecting the recent visits to Sonsodo by MLA Digambar Kamat with the civic chief Damu Shirodkar, councillors, Chief Officer Manuel Barretto and technical officials, besides Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) Managing Director Levinson Martins.

If the civic body will take a call on the extension for the two door-to-door waste collection agencies, besides the tender for the appointment of contractors to take up the work, the ensuing Council meeting will decide on various proposals for garbage management at Sonsodo.

The garbage management works proposed at Sonsodo include improvement required at the Sonsodo site, shifting of the location of the transformer, extension to the MRF shed at the Sonsodo, construction of retaining wall and fencing (fabrication work including wire mesh) around existing leachate collection tank and construction of drainage system for discharge of the leachate into the leachate collection at Sonsodo.

The meeting will also take a call on the construction of the additional leachate collection tank at entrance of the MSW shed, besides the installation of the CCTV cameras in the Sonsodo site.

Another major decision the Council meeting is expected to take and is listed on the agenda is the shifting of the piled up existing legacy of the wet waste dumped inside the Sonsodo waste management shed.

This is the third time in the last two years that the Margao Municipal Council will take a call on the shifting of the piled up waste inside the shed since the civic body has drawn up plans to start treatment of the daily wet waste dumped inside the shed.

A brief note put up by the Council indicates that the tender process for the appointment of Waste Management Agency was not approved by GSUDA without assigning any valid reasons due to which the council was in crisis. Since the High Court was monitoring the progress of the municipality on a day-to-day basis in the WP. No. 2/2007, the note has pointed out that it is of prime importance that the waste management is done on a time-to-time basis without any gap, adding that it will cause inconvenience to the public in case the door-to-door collection of garbage is stopped as such it is necessary to give extension to the existing agencies namely Green Globe Self Help Group’ and ‘Bapa Environment Services’ to continue their services for another three months till the necessary formalities are completed by this office.