Lack of coordination between SGPDA and MMC has stalled waste clearance; garbage is dumped around market, spilling into nearby fields; stagnant waste causes foul odour and unsanitary conditions for vendors and customers
The state of affairs at the SGPDA mega retail market with waste piling up all around the market complex.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant chaired a review meeting on Thursday to assess the waste management scenario in the Municipal jurisdictions in a bid to work out solutions to the waste imbroglio staring at the civic bodies.
Welcome to the SGPDA retail market, where the waste problem continues to worsen by the day, as no concrete solution has emerged to address the question of disposal and collection of waste generated in the mega market.
What has further compounded the problem is the lack of coordination between the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), which owns the mega market and the Margao Municipal Council (MMC), responsible for lifting away the waste from the market.
Incidentally, caught in the crossfire between the two bodies are the hapless shoppers and the vendors for no fault of theirs as they have been left with no option than to contend with the eyesore.
A visit to the PDA retail market on Thursday reveals a grim picture. There’s no system in place for the disposal of waste generated in the market. A ride down the market road would reveal that waste is being dumped indiscriminately all around the market periphery, with waste bundles spilling over into the adjoining fields.
The waste mounds dotting the market periphery, accumulating for days, is a clear indication of the absence of waste collection and disposal mechanism worth its name.
Adding a new dimension to the issue was the letter addressed by SGPDA Member Secretary Shivprasad Murari to the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz, where the former drew attention of the civic body to the non-clearance of waste. In fact, the PDA Member Secretary has confirmed what citizens and traders have been claiming for a long time now that the area is now in a highly unhygienic state, causing immense inconvenience to the public and traders due to non-clearance of waste.
The PDA Member Secretary has further confirmed the worst fears raised by the visiting public and vendors that the accumulated waste has led to foul odour, unsanitary conditions, and poses a serious health risk to the general public, including vendors and customers, who are visiting the said market.
MMC puts onus on SGPDA for waste segregation at market
Margao Municipal officials confirmed that the civic body is responsible for the collection of waste generated in the mega retail market. Civic officials, however, hastened to add that the MMC is responsible to collect only the segregated waste handed over by the PDA, insisting that it’s not the job of the civic body to collect the waste generated in the market.
In fact, MMC officials have asserted there’s no question of collecting the accumulated waste dumped all around the market, insisting it’s the responsibility of the PDA to collect the waste generated in the market at one place, segregate the waste before handing it over to the MMC workers. “The MMC workers are not responsible for the waste mounds that have taken shape in the PDA mega market. What is happening inside the market is the responsibility of the PDA. We will accept the waste in the segregated form,” Municipal engineer Deepak Desai asserted.
Another MMC official said garbage vehicles transport only segregated waste to the Sonsodo waste management site, which in turn is being sent to the Cacora plant for disposal. “We cannot have waste segregation at Sonsodo just to sort out the waste collected from the PDA market. We hope the PDA will segregate the waste at the market before handing over the same to the civic workers,” the official added.
One month on, no progress in MMC–SGPDA dues deadlock
