Hazardous zinc waste at Cuncolim to weather another monsoon as GSPCB compares NEERI, CPCB findings

The hazardous zinc waste mound at the Cuncolim IDC.

MARGAO
Has the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) set in motion the process to cart away the 35,000 hazardous zinc waste left behind at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate to the Pissurlem hazardous waste disposal site? And, has the Centre cleared Goa government’s proposal for part-funding of the hazardous waste transportation cost pegged at an estimated cost of Rs 14 crore?

Well, these and other questions remain unanswered. One thing, however, seemed loud and clear that the hazardous waste remains where it is at the Cuncolim IDC during the ensuing monsoons and that the GSPCB will carry out the annual ritual of covering the hazardous dump with tarpaulin to prevent seepage of chemicals into the ground water.

In fact, Cuncolkars will have to wait for the monsoons to retreat before the government takes a call on the transportation of the hazardous zinc dump left behind at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate over a decade and half ago for disposal at the Pissurlem hazardous waste disposal facility.

Consider this: In March last, then GSPCB Chairman Mahesh Patil had informed the media that a study conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had concluded that the zinc waste left behind at the Cuncolim industry by M/s Sunrise Zinc is hazardous in nature. He had further informed that waste needs to be disposed of to the common hazardous waste disposal facility at Pissurlem. In this context, Patil had said the GSPCB had written to the Union Ministry for Environment with a proposal for part-funding of the Rs 14 crore hazardous waste transportation project.

The ground reality, however, has not changed for the better since then. Reason: The GSPCB has recently received a report from the Central Pollution Control Board on the nature of the zinc waste dump at the Cuncolim IDC, along with an analysis report on the nature of the ground water.

The Goan understands that with GSPCB in receipt of the latest report from the CPCB on the matter, the Pollution Control Board, sources said, will be on the job to compare the findings of the study by the two agencies, NEERI and CPCB before taking a final call on the transportation of the hazardous waste.

If sources in the GSPCB are to be believed, the government will take a call whether the waste needs to be transported to the Pissurlem hazardous waste disposal facility or can be remediated on the site itself and disposed of accordingly.

When contacted, GSPCB acting Member Secretary Sanjeev Joglekar has confirmed having received the report from the Central Pollution Control Board on the hazardous zinc waste dump at the Cuncolim IDC. “The GSPCB will compare the reports submitted by NEERI as well as CPCB and take a call accordingly. We have also received the ground water test analysis conducted by the CPCB. The GSPCB will take all aspects into account before taking a call on the matter,” Joglekar added.

The GSPCB had roped in NEERI to undertake characterisation of the hazardous waste dump of M/s Sunrise Zinc Ltd at Cuncolim IDC. The agency had in November last year completed the sampling of the dump before conducting the analysis, which shed light that the decade and half-year-old waste dump is hazardous.

No decision yet: GSPCB to once again cover hazardous waste with tarpaulin

MARGAO: With the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) indecisive on the question whether to cart away the hazardous zinc waste from the Cuncolim IDC to the Pissurlem hazardous waste disposal facility or remediate the same at the Industrial Estate, the Board will undertake the annual ritual of covering the waste dump with tarpaulin sheets.

In fact, GSPCB Member Secretary Sanjeev Joglekar told The Goan that the Board has already issued instructions to cover the hazardous dump with tarpaulin as a precautionary measure. “The dump will be covered with tarpaulin sheets ahead of the coming monsoons. Instructions to this effect have already been issued by the Board,” he said.

The hazardous zinc waste is covered every year before the onset of monsoons to prevent chemicals from the dump contaminating the water bodies and underground water. The exercise is being carried out annually by the Pollution Control Board since the last 15 years after the High Court, after taking cognizance of the dump, exposed to the vagaries of monsoons, had ordered the government authorities to cover the dump during monsoons.