the goan I network
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council literally struggled to maintain the city garbage free on Saturday as waste piled up at many places in the city, even as burning of waste was reported at a black spot along the Cine Lata road.
A day after the municipality terminated the services of the labour contractor after the latter abandoned the work, MMC workers struggled to lift the mounds of waste. The problem was further aggravated by the fact that the workers had to segregate the waste before loading the same in the vehicles with the civic body barred from open dumping of waste at Sonsodo.
While the municipal team led by Romeo, Pundalik and Israel got the workers to clear mounds of waste from some of the black spots, waste was left unattended at other places such as near the Old Collectorate building and near the KRC office etc.
The municipal workers are expected to attend to these black spots on Sunday with the hope that the civic body gets a new labour contractor to start door-to-door waste collection from households. “Today, our own workers were engaged in the door-to-door collection of waste after the contractor abandoned the work two days ago. We have tried our best to keep the city clean. However, there are a couple of black spots that require attention and will be attended to on Sunday or Monday”, a MMC official said.
Around 3 pm, the waste, which had piled up along the Cine Lata road, was set afire by some persons. Local traders complained of bad odour as smoke billowing from the dump settled in the neighbourhood, causing nuisance.
The MMC team was quick to deny any hand of the municipal workers in setting the waste on fire. They pointed out that it could be the handiwork of people, who might have set the waste afire as it was not cleared on time.
MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai had on Friday conceded that the Civic body is facing a torrid time to put waste management in place after the contractor abandoned door-to-door waste collection earlier this week. In principle nod for solid waste
plant in South Goa, says Lobo
MARGAO: Strongly pitching for a 250 tonne waste treatment plant for South Goa, Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo on Saturday announced that the government has in principle agreed to set up the solid waste plant in the district to address the burning garbage issue.
Without going into the tricky issue of the exact site of the proposed plant, the Minister said the
government would unveil the location after the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study and other statutory rules are complied with. >> See pg 3
