MARGAO
If senior government officials are to be believed, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar may descend at Sonsodo site to launch the bio-remediation project in the first week of April, tentatively on April 6, with the government issuing strict directions to the GSIDC to set up the machinery at the site latest by April 3.
Margao Municipal Council Chairperson Babita Angle Prabhudesai placed the proposal to opt for the Department of Science, Technology and Environment before the Council meeting on Thursday evening, citing the decision arrived at by the High Powered Co-ordination Committee (HPCC) headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to take up the bio-remediation project through the GSIDC a la the Saligao project. “The GSUDA project could not see the light of day since the agency insisted on a landfill site as well as transportation of the inert waste from Sonsodo. “Yesterday, the HPCC meeting decided to hand over the operations to the GSIDC to clear the dump yard of the waste within a time-frame so that the festering eyesore is removed from the site at the earliest,” Babita said.
She pointed out that the government has taken serious view of the burning issue at Sonsodo and is gearing up to tackle the same with urgency and with utmost priority. “We expect work on the bio-remediation of the existing site to commence in the first week of April. When the operations start at Sonsodo, no fresh waste will be accepted at the dump yard,” she told the councillors.
Addressing the concerns of the members, the chairperson pointed that since the civic body would hand over the site to the Department of Science and Technology, the site will be covered during the monsoons by the GSIDC. “From June 1, the Sonsodo dump yard will be covered by the GSIDC. The dump will be covered after bio-remediating the existing dump as much as possible before the onset of monsoon,” she said.
When councillor Rupesh Mahatme sought to know whether Sonsodo will now be manned by two players, she clarified that GSIDC will only tackle the existing waste mound and will in no way interfere with the garbage plant.
