MARGAO
Ahead of the hearing of the Sonsodo imbroglio in the High Court scheduled on Wednesday, Sonsodo witnessed a flurry of activity on Tuesday, with Secretary of Urban Development Ramesh Verma personally descending at the dump yard to take stock of the situation.
The visit by the Secretary of Urban Development assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the High Court has mandated the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) Chief Officer to report to him every day on the quantum of wet waste transported to the Saligao waste treatment plant from Sonsodo.
With Sonsodo under the High Court scanner, which is monitoring the progress of works planned by the MMC every week, the civic body is gearing up to meet its timelines to avoid further strictures from the Court.
The Urban Development Secretary set foot at Sonsodo early Tuesday morning with a team of Margao municipal officials in tow, led by Chief Officer Gaurish Shankhwalkar. Accompanied by the municipal engineers, the Urban Development Secretary took stock of the situation and reviewed the progress of work at Sonsodo as per the timelines submitted by the MMC before the High Court.
Verma took a round of the site where the MMC has taken up works as per the action plan submitted to the High Court.
Before leaving the site, the Urban Development Secretary told The Goan that he and the civic officials were all at Sonsodo to sort out the issues.
Sources in the know informed that the Urban Development Secretary has decided to take a first-hand account of the situation at Sonsodo ahead of the hearing scheduled in the High Court on Wednesday.
He is believed to have taken stock of the works initiated by the Margao civic body at Sonsodo and to check whether the works are progressing as per the timelines. When Verma descended at Sonsodo, he came across road work underway at the site.
He is believed to have taken stock of the piled-up wet waste, approximately around 10,000 metric tons inside the Sonsodo waste management shed and how the civic body has proposed to dispose of the waste.
At the last date of the hearing, the High Court had made it clear to all concerned that they should strictly adhere to the timelines on Sonsodo and complete the works within the timeframe.
