the goan I network
MARGAO
Easing of restrictions from April 20 may not open inter-state movement of traffic, even as the baled dry waste continues to remain stacked at the Old Fish Market area behind the Margao municipal building.
While MMC’s baling process has continued during the lockdown, transportation of these bales to the cement factories in neighbouring Karnataka has come to a halt.
When The Goan contacted the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) Managing Director Levinson Martins said that transportation of the bales to Karnataka will resume only if the lockdown is lifted on May 3.
He said the since the bales continue to lie in Goa, it has been decided to work out a stop-gap arrangement by looking for an area in the Verna Industrial Estate to stack these. “We are aware many of the bales across Goa cannot be transported to Karnataka in this situation. We have advised the local bodies to stack these within their jurisdictions till the lockdown is lifted,” Martins added.
MMC Sanitary Inspector Viraj Arabekar said the MMC now plans to commission two more baling units at the SGPDA complex to take care of the dry waste generated in the city. “The Old Fish Market area is saturated with the baled waste. Around three-four truckloads of bales are lying there,” he said.
To ensure that baling operations do not come to a halt during the lockdown, Arabekar said two more baling machines will be put into operation at the Old Fish Market area.
Presently, around five baling machines are operating in the city, both at the Old Fish Market and Sonsodo, with Arabekar saying the commissioning of the remaining two machines will help tackle the dry waste menace in the city.
