Civic body claims PDA owes Rs 1.80 cr for waste collection services at PDA market; planning body counters that MMC owes Rs 1.60 cr in unpaid rent for land leased for bio-methanation plant
SGPDA officials have claimed that the MMC owes Rs 1.60 crore to the Planning body for leasing its land in the PDA market to set up the 5TPD bio-methanation plant, which is presently down and in the dumps.
MARGAO
There seemed no end to the deadlock between the Margao Municipal Council and the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) over the payment of waste collection fees by the planning body to the civic body.
A joint meeting of MMC and PDA officials brokered by the Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to end the stalemate and clear the decks for the payment of pending dues amounting to Rs 1.80 crore to the MMC has given a new twist to the controversy.
Armed with records, the Municipal team led by Margao civic body Damu Shirodkar produced at the meeting documents stating that the SGPDA owes an amount of Rs 1.80 crore to the MMC for the collection of the garbage from the PDA market.
To their shock and surprise, the SGPDA officials drew attention of the Municipal team that the civic body owes an amount of Rs 1.60 crore towards the payment of rent for the land leased out by the planning body to the civic body to set up the 5TPD bio-methanation plant over two years ago.
The PDA official pointed out to the MMC team that the PDA had raised the bill around two years ago, but the MMC is yet to clear the payment till date.
During discussions, the MMC team feigned ignorance to the bill raised by the SGPDA to pay the rent arising out of the setting up of the bio-methanation plant on the land owned by the PDA at the SGPDA market.
Given the situation, with both the MMC and the SGPDA having raised bills on each other, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat has advised the two agencies to sit across the tables and resolve the long-pending issue of payment of fees.
The MMC team, on the other hand, is believed to have suggested to the SGPDA that the planning body may sent the waste directly to a waste treatment plant for treatment instead of getting the waste cleared by the civic body.
Margao civic chief Damu Shirodkar later told The Goan that the issue of non-payment of fees by the SGPDA towards the collection of waste from the mega retail market has been hanging over the last couple of years. “The MMC had been raising bills on the SGPDA for the payment of the garbage collection fees. We hope the PDA will see reason and clear the payment. In the alternative, the SGPDA may even send the market waste to the Cacora waste treatment plant for disposal,” remarked a civic official.
He added: “Hope today’s joint meeting between the PDA and MMC open the eyes of the Powers that be controlling the civic body. There is no political will to recover the huge arrears from the SGPDA. We only hope better sense prevails and the two agencies resolve the issue of outstanding garbage collection arrears.”
Audit flags non-recovery of waste charges from SGPDA since 2006
The Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, provide that government department, local bodies, hospital, nursing homes, schools, stadia and sports complexes, etc which generate waste of beyond 100 kgs/day falls in the category of bulk waste generator and shall be responsible for disposal of such bulk waste.
The existing wholesale market located near Kadamba bus stand is maintained by SGPDA. However, the MMC has been collecting garbage generated from SGPDA market since the year 2001. The waste generated are generally parts of meat like chicken, mutton, fish, etc and vegetables waste, fruit waste and plastic waste which is of the tune of more than 200 kg per day.
It has been observed that the MMC charged Rs 611.50 per trip from SGPDA for lifting of garbage from the fish market. The SGPDA paid Rs 18 lakh on 18.10.2006 to MMC towards charges for lifting of garbage from the fish market. The collection charges for each trip were further increased to Rs 5,500.00 from April 2016 onwards. The arrears of revenue from SGPDA amounted to Rs 112.14 lakh till December 2021.
As the SGPDA was defaulting in payment of garbage charges, the matter was placed before the Council in the special meeting dtd 22.07.2022, who unanimously resolved to recover the arrears.
The audit, however, has observed that though notices were issued to the PDA, no amount has been recovered till date, with the Audit team suggesting that the matter may be taken to the government for settlement of the issue at the earliest.
