PANAJI
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai was of the view that that all waste management should be under one umbrella rather than having several government departments collecting waste on their own.
He was speaking during a panel discussion on the theme ‘Clean, Green & Smart Cities’ during the Goa Biz Fest at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim. Sanjit Rodrigues, managing director of Goa Solid Waste Management Corporation, was also a part of the same panel.
Sardesai said, “Sanjit Rodrigues, a very efficient officer of Goa government, should be dealing with all waste everywhere. He can’t be saying that this waste is of panchayat, that waste is of municipality. The process, which is going on now, is wrong. All waste has to be under one umbrella. When you have multiple power centres, you don’t have a solution.”
Sardesai said, “We have tourism department collecting beach waste. Tourism department should be promoting Goa. They are not supposed to collect beach waste. What are you (referring to Rodrigues) supposed to do? The government has set up a corporation, which should be telling other government agencies that it’s not their job (to collect waste).”
He continued, “The government can’t be saying that we will accept mixed waste. Saligao Waste Treatment Plant was advertised as a mixed waste plant when I was in opposition. You can’t say that there has to be segregation of waste and also talk about mixed waste. This is cacophony, which will confuse people.”
Rodrigues made a detailed presentation detailing how people show apathy towards waste management. He highlighted that not a single architect makes a provision of a compost station while designing a building. He said that even builders are indifferent towards compost station, which would cost only Rs 50,000.
Rodrigues said builders are so different that they don’t even provide bins in the building. Looking at Sardesai, Rodrigues said, “Sir, do we need to change TCP act for these things? All of them (builders) are sitting here and they will come to you one day or the other. Please ask them to pay Rs 200 for a bin.”
