MAPUSA
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo on Wednesday said the waste management ministry has become non-functional as garbage is seen piled up in every nook and corner of the State even as local self-governance bodies have stopped issuing fines against those dumping waste in the open.
Lobo also said that the Solid Waste Management Corporation has not conducted its meetings for the last two years, indicating that all is not well in the waste management ministry.
“We can see garbage strewn everywhere… on the roads, beach sides. You will see huge dumps of waste in Morjim, Mandrem, Vagator, Anjuna, Mapusa… everywhere. Nobody is bothered. Segregated waste does not reach the garbage plant,” Lobo said.
“I don’t know whether the waste management ministry exists or not. It will work only if the right people are in the place. The Chief Minister wants to work but needs the right people to do the work,” he added.
He said when he was the minister of waste management, the meetings of Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) used to happen twice a month. “So far, I have not been called even once in the last two years, which shows that no meetings were held by the SWMC,” he said.
Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate is also in charge of the waste management ministry in the BJP-led government in the State.
The Calangute MLA suggested that wet waste from South Goa should be transported to the waste treatment plant in Curchorem, while wet waste from the North should go to the Saligao waste treatment plant.
“While the Curchorem plant needs 100 tonnes of garbage to treat, only 20 tonnes of garbage go there. Taxpayer’s money is wasted just because of adamancy of two or three persons,” he said.
He further said that the Curchorem waste treatment plant was still not inaugurated for reasons best known to the government.
