MARGAO
The Sonsodo waste treatment plant once again came under the scanner as the Margao fire brigade rushed to the plant to bring the fire under control.
While the fire personnel managed to douse the fire, Monday’s incident has only brought to the fore that all is not well at the Sosnodo waste treatment plant. In fact, fires breaking out inside the waste treatment plant has literally become the order of the day with thousands of fresh daily waste stacked up inside the plant for want of treatment.
MMC officials tried to downplay the fire incident, saying the generation of methane gas inside the plant is the cause of the fires. In fact, an official pointed out that fires and smoke will continue to billow out of the waste treatment plant due to the presence of methane gas.
However, plans by the MMC to cart out the thousands of waste stacked inside the plant and remediate the same have failed to fructify till date. Civic officials have pointed fingers at the office of the Director of Urban Development for not according approval to the tender to rope in a contractor to cart out the waste stacked inside the plant.
Sources in the know informed that the recurring fires inside the waste treatment plant only brings to the fore that the MMC has done nothing to treat the waste at the plant over the last one year and half since the time Fomento Green had handed over the plant to the MMC.
The Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) had tried to bail out the civic body by getting a contractor to cart away thousands of tons of waste inside the plant at a cost of Rs 86 lakh. Sadly, the contractor is yet to be cleared of the payments till date.
“When the plant shed was cleared of the accumulated waste, we had thought that the MMC would start treating waste with the windrow method. The GWCM had even drafted an engineer to the plant to help the civic body but in vain. Things never improved over the last one year, resulting in fresh accumulation of waste inside the plant,” informed an official.
The official said the only solution lies in carting away the accumulated waste and rope in a contractor to treat the daily waste before the civic body goes in for a permanent solution.
