MARGAO
Once beaten, twice shy, so goes the good old saying. As a Margao Municipal team headed by Municipal engineer, Deepak Desai has headed to Pune in connection with the proposal to set up a pilot project on plasma gasification plant at Sonsodo, Margao councillors seemed treading a cautious path.
For, the civic body could not find a solution to waste management at Sonsodo over the last 25 years, beginning with its decision to rope in Pune-based Ms Komex Engineering to Sonsodo in 1998.
In fact, when the Margao Municipal Council discussed the proposal received from Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) to depute a civic team to Pune to study the proposal received from M/s GD Environmental Pvt Ltd, Pune, (GDEPL) to set up a plasma gasification plant at Sonsodo, one could sense the cautious approach adopted by the councillors.
Former Margao Municipal chairperson, Ganashyam Shirodkar, in particular, was on his feet to remind the Council how the Margao civic body’s handshake with Ms Komex International to set up a composting plant at Sonsodo had failed to achieve the objective. “I was then presiding as the Chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council around 1999 when Ms Komex struggled to run the composting plant before they shut shop and abandoned the plant at Sonsodo. We have burnt our fingers in the past and we have to remain alert again,” he said.
He added: “We have no issue with the Margao Municipal team visiting Pune along with other agencies, but we want to make crystal clear that any decision on the proposal to set up the gasification plant will be taken only at the Council meeting. We do not want to take any chances on garbage management.”
Margao Municipal councillors echoed similar sentiments saying the details of the Pune visit should be placed at the Council for a decision.
