MARGAO
The Goa Forward Party on Monday supported TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai’s initiative on Sonsodo waste segregation, saying that it is for the Goa State Infrastructure Development Agency (GSIDC) to look into if any procedure is not followed up before awarding the work to a contractor.
Addressing the media, GFP chief spokesperson Prashant Naik said that the party will rally behind the TCP Minister and the government for its bold initiative to rid the Sonsodo dump yard of the garbage mound. “We will see to it that Sonsodo is cleared of the waste mound and restore the 15,000 square meters of land back to Madgavkars. There’s no looking back now and the GFP will fully back the government to see that the ongoing work is taken to its logical conclusion,” Naik asserted.
When the media drew his attention to the charge made by the United Goans Foundation that the ongoing work is being carried out illegally without floating any tender, Naik shot back “soon after the election, the TCP Minister wrote to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to take up the Sonsodo waste segregation project on a priority basis. We feel the GSIDC must have looked into various aspects before undertaking the work.”
Asserting that nothing would stop the GFP and the government from tackling the Sonsodo waste, Naik lamented that certain people are pointing fingers at the ongoing work instead of appreciating the TCP Minister and the government for trying to rid the more than five-decade old dump.
When the media drew his attention to the allegation that untreated waste is being dumped for land filling in the Madel area of Fatorda constituency, Naik said the government will certainly pay attention to any such grievances of the people. “If the workers have not taken due precautions while disposing off the waste, I can assure you that the authorities will take
all precautions so that there’s no health hazard to the local residents.
GFP general secretary Mohandas Lolienkar pointed out what GSIDC is doing at the Sonsodo site is only the segregation of the existing waste. He expressed surprised over attempts made to stop the ongoing work, adding that those who have apprehensions about the procedures should take up the issue with the GSIDC. “What the people of Margao, Fatorda and Curtorim want is the clearance of the existing dump. Let these people take up the issue with the GSIDC. They have no right to demand a stop to the work,” Lolienkar added.
