unfinished business
Photo of the Sonsodo dump yard
GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
Do the candidates contesting from the three constituencies of Margao, Fatorda and Curtorim have any agenda or a concrete plan of action in their election manifestos to address the festering Sonsodo mess if they make it to the Legislative Assembly after the February 4 election?
Sonsodo is not new to many a contestants in the fray, especially the three sitting MLAs, including five-time Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, two-time Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and one-time Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai. And, not to mention former two-time Fatorda MLA Damu Naik and former Margao Municipal Council chairperson Arthur D’Silva, who is in the fray vying for the Curtorim seat.
That Sonsodo is affecting the lives and health of citizens of these three constituencies is borne out of the fact that though the dump yard receives tons of garbage every day from Margao, the site is located in Fatorda constituency, bordering Curtorim constituency. In fact, the Sonsodo waste dump yard has remained an eyesore and a nuisance to the people of Curtorim and Fatorda over the years with a concrete solution not forthcoming from the government and local civic body.
No doubt, the waste treatment plant at Sonsodo was commissioned during the outgoing term, but a host of issues still remain unresolved. The first thing the new government will have to decide after assuming office vis-Ã -vis Sonsodo is how to go about disposing off the tons of existing waste at the dump yard. Before the election code of conduct came into force, the Margao Municipal Council had dashed off a letter to the government seeking advice on the moot question whether the Sonsodo site should be capped or the waste segregated be lifted away. The MMC had knocked government’s doors after the civic body expressed its helplessness in making available a land fill site to take care of the waste generated during the segregation process.
A couple of other candidates in the fray are not new to the Sonsodo mess. Aam Aadmi Party Margao candidate and former MMC chairperson Santosh Pai Raiturkar has promised the immediate clearance of the Sonsodo garbage dump, but have not elaborated how he intends to take his promise to the logical conclusion. AAP Curtorim candidate Edwin Vaz, is an active member of the local NGO, Citizens for Sonsodo and has been working very closely with activists, demanding a permanent solution to the long-pending issue.
