MARGAO
Is the Sonsodo waste management plant shed safe after playing host to fires, smoke, rain water, leachate, besides waste?
This question has come to haunt the Margao City Fathers and the Municipal babus with two incidents of collapse of the Sonsodo waste management shed walls in a space of three months and half, only raising concerns and throwing up questions over the stability of the structure as well as the safety of the 30-odd workers engaged in the dry waste baling inside the shed.
With Margao Municipal engineers reporting that cracks have been spotted on the walls of the shed, questions are indeed being raised over the safety of the workers, not only workers engaged in the baling work, but the workers, including drivers, engaged in the transportation of daily waste to the Sonsodo plant. “The second incident has indeed raised concerns amongst the waste handlers as questions are being raised whether it’s safe to work inside the shed. The City Fathers and the civic babus will have to take a call on whether workers engaged in the dry waste baling work should continue to work from inside the shed,” remarked an official.
The official added: “The MMC has no options at hand to shift the dry waste handling to another site in the city. As it is, the civic body is sending piled up dry waste to the Saligao waste treatment plant. The 30-odd workers are handling the daily dry and plastic waste collected by the door-to-door waste collectors.”
Indeed, the Sonsodo waste management shed has been playing host to fire and smoke, almost on a regular basis, with no treatment of waste taking place inside for the last two years. The shed, left damaged by cyclonic winds two years ago, facilitated entry of rain water into the plant, causing water accumulation and leachate, sources said.
That the MMC was caught napping in the treatment of waste was evident by the fact that the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) is now on the job to cart away around 14,000 metric tonnes of piled up waste stacked inside the shed. In fact, the MMC had paid around Rs 85 lakh for the work of carting away and remediation of the piled up waste in 2020. Two years down the lane, the plant is again saturated with waste, with the government now roping in the GWMC to cart away the piled up waste.
