CANACONA
With ever-growing mounds of uncovered garbage, a plant which is virtually idle and machinery which has been taken back, the Canacona Municipal Council's (CMC) prestigious Garbage Treatment Plant (GTP) at Dumane is in shambles.
Huge mounds of untreated garbage dumped by CMC compactors inside the GTP compound are lying exposed, attracting stray cattle to feast on the waste, while the garbage keeps on piling every day with each CMC vehicle arriving at the site.
Interestingly, a bio-methanation plant with a minimum capacity of 5 tonnes of garbage is lying virtually idle inside the plant, while a bio-remediation machinery which was brought in almost a year ago to treat the huge dumps of legacy waste was barely put to use before being taken back on Monday.
Even though garbage mounds keep increasing every day, there is no manpower, either from the Canacona Municipal Council or the garbage contractor, to operate the machines.
According to municipal sources, the Rs 2.5 crore bio-methanation plant installed almost a year ago, has never been utilised to its potential, despite the availability of sufficient garbage to process.
“The plant capacity is up to 5 tonnes, while CMC does not generate that much of garbage. The CMC was expected to have entered into an agreement with neighbouring villages to treat the garbage, but the CMC did not do that and neither did it make attempts to utilise the plant to its potential, thereby leading to mounds of garbage,” said a source.
The bio-methanation plant at GTP was used only randomly. The purpose of the bio-methanation plant was to utilise organic waste and produce biogas to be used as fuel in gas-based engines,” added the source.
Meanwhile, the bio-remediation machinery, which was brought in by a contractor as per the tender of Goa Waste Management Corporation the last monsoon, had been lying unused and unutilised at the GTP Dumane, prompting authorities to move the machinery out of the GTP on Monday.
According to a CMC source, the machinery has been taken away for use at a nearby garbage site.
“Despite getting the machinery to treat the legacy waste lying at the GTP, the contractor neither made manpower available nor made the machinery operational. The machinery has now been shifted to another garbage site,” the source added.
Bio-remediation is a waste management technique to eradicate or neutralise pollutants from a contaminated site, breaking down harmful materials into less toxic or non-toxic materials.
Incidentally, while the plant is nearly full with garbage dumps, the mud road leading to the plant is also filled with garbage strewn all around.
A fortnight ago, the NGO ‘Goenkar’ had denounced the situation at the GTP, with Goenkar General Secretary Vikas Bhagat severely criticising the CMC for being least concerned to undertake waste treatment in the right earnest.
On previous occasions, Goenkar had helped the CMC to clean the backlog of garbage at the GTP, including assistance to operate the baling machine and segregating the garbage infestation.
