Intro:
After an eight-year saga, the Corporation of the City of Panaji’s solid waste management site located behind the Heera Petrol Pump on land which has been created by land filling will finally see light of the day. However, the question which remains unanswered is: Does garbage management come at the cost of destruction of ecology? Gerard de Souza takes a peek into the issue
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It’s now closer than ever. After a long winding road, that began with filling of salt pans, a rap from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority and a prolonged stay on the works, all by the National Green Tribunal, the Corporation of the City of Panaji’s Solid Waste Management facility located in an area conveniently called ‘behind the Heera Petrol Pump’ is likely to see light of the day.
The Solid Waste Management Facility being built by Shilpi Constructions is being built in what was once a 'lagoon' and a “No Development Zone” and marked as such in the Panaji Outline Development Plan.
With the Goa State Pollution Control Board asking the CCP to commence operations on its proposed Solid Waste Management Facility before May 31, 2016, the controversial project has received yet another shot in the arm.
But it hasn’t taken away the manner in which the plant was being built.
The government acquired the land as per decision No 9 of the Standing Committee of the Goa Assembly on April 4, 2008.
The first complaint against ‘illegal’ land filling was filed at the Panaji Police Station in September 2010 by the Member Secretary of the North Goa Planning and Development Authority but the Panaji police closed the case citing lack of evidence.
In 2012, the North Goa Planning and Development Authority rejected an application for building a garbage management site in the area.
“The property under review is earmarked as No Development Area (NDA) as per Panaji ODP 2011. Therefore, the Authority has rejected the proposal in its 43rd Authority meeting held on 11.07.2012,” the NGPDA said in an order issued on July 24, that year.
Notwithstanding the objections from its own department as well as the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority which in its report says that the land falls in a No Development Zone and that “the human activity of mud filling has infringed upon and into the lagoon” the Chief Town Planner vide a public notice had called for suggestions and objections with regard to conversion of the plot for a garbage treatment site.
The Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) had raised the issue of it being a no development zone as well as an eco-sensitive zone.
The GBA is aghast at the reports that a local self-government body like the Corporation of the City of Panaji has planned to set up a hi-tech garbage treatment plant in an area already marked as “No Development Area” or NDA in the Outline Development Plan [ODP 2011] prepared for the city by the North Goa PDA and notified by the Government of Goa.”
However, the TCP Board in its meeting on September 17, 2012 that year took a decision to convert the land to pave the way for land filling of the site and building of the solid waste management facility.
In May 2015, the NGT had ordered a stay on activity at the site based on the application filed by activist Kashinath Shetye.
The last straw was the dismissal of the case filed before the NGT by activist Kashinath Shetye, on grounds that the case filed with political motivations didn’t concern the environment and the location was wrongly shown.
“The NGT was mislead. There were two instances of violations one is a road that is being constructed by a Merces panch, and another of the garbage management site. The NGT got confused between the two and dismissed the case,” Shetye said adding that he has filed an appeal before the Bombay High Court at Goa against the NGT case.
Notwithstanding the pending litigation, the Goa State Pollution Control Board issued directions to the CCP, based absolute mess that is the dumping site near SBI regional office in Patto Plaza in the hope that the new site will offer some relief.
"As informed by the Corporation of the City of Panaji representatives, SBI site is not in operation and collected wet waste is treated at LIC site, market site and residential composting pits and excess wet waste collected and dumped at the SBI site at Patto. As observed huge amounts of waste was dumped at SBI site and foul odour was felt during the inspection. In effect, out of the 17 tons of wet waste generated by the city 10 tons is composted and seven tons is dumped behind SBI office at Patto,” the GSPCB had found.
“On considering the report of inspection, it is observed that the site at Patto Plaza is being operated inefficiently by you and is causing environmental pollution in the vicinity,” the board observed in its inspection report as it ordered the CCP to begin the operation of the Heera Petrol Pump site before May 31, this year.
Chief Town Planner defended the location of the garbage treatment site saying that it was far away from residences and offices and stench if any would be blown away from homes and offices unlike the current situation where those who live and work in the Patto had to deal with the stench on a daily basis.
The CCP has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for the site which includes a management facility for both wet and dry waste with the wet waste being composted and the dry waste being sorted and sold as scrap.
“There won’t be dumping of mixed waste or treatment of mixed waste. Only segregated garbage will be brought to the site, the wet waste will be composted and the dry waste will be sorted and sold,” officials from the CCP have said.
While the CCP’s intentions may be clear, nothing explains its choice in locating its garbage management site through filling a lagoon over other sites such as its Bainguinim site.
BOX:
Garbage areas especially dumps produce methane which is a combustible gas. It catches fire spontaneously when it reaches its ignition temperature. This has occurred in garbage dumps at Sonsoddo, Parade grounds in Campal, Taleigao garbage dump
The CCP's proposed garbage treatment plant is proposed behind Heera Petrol Pump, which has underground petrol/diesel storage tanks. Besides petrol and diesel is continuously being dispensed there with high percentage of the vapour in the vicinity
The other observation relates to the leachate tank in a mangrove area which is close to water bodies The soil is porous and these water bodies are also linked to the Mandovi river. The leachate will contaminate the water bodies near it as well as increase the pollution of Mandovi river
The area is a no development zone falling in eco-sensitive area and a crucial zone for Panaji
