MARGAO
Unloading of waste at the Sonsodo dump came to a halt for some time on early Tuesday morning after an agitated Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco dumped bundles of dry waste collected from the roadside in Curtorim constituency at the entrance of the dump yard.
A fleet of Margao Municipal Council trucks loaded with both wet and dry waste were stranded on the main road, waiting for the green signal from officials manning the Sonsodo dump to enter the site with the waste.
The incident occurred on Tuesday morning when the Curtorim MLA went to the Sonsodo yard to hand over bundles of dry waste, which was collected by him from the roadside in his constituency.
However, the officials manning the yard refused to accept the waste on grounds that it has been brought to the site by a private individual, realizing little that the waste was being brought by an MLA representing the neighbouring Curtoirm constituency.
After being kept waiting for over an hour, and with the official refusing to accept the dry waste, an angry Reginaldo decided to unload the bundles of dry waste right at the entrance of the Sonsodo yard, leaving the MMC vehicles stranded on the road. It was only after the officials lifted the bundles of waste that the garbage trucks made their entry into the site for unloading.
The Curtorim MLA told The Goan that he was left with no option but to unload the dry waste bundles at the entrance of Sonsodo yard in protest.
He said the MMC officials will be sadly mistaken if they think that citizens of Curtorim have to only face pollution from the Sonsodo yard and will not take the waste from the neighbouring villages.
“The waste we want to dump at Sonsodo was the dry waste collected from the roadside in Curtoirm. I had initiated the exercise to collect roadside waste from the neighbouring areas to remove the eyesore. I was shocked that the MMC officials refused to accept the waste when Curtorim people have to face the brunt of the pollution at Sonsodo,” he asserted.
Warning that what happened at Sonsodo was just a trailer, the MLA has warned that the people of Curtoirm will not tolerate any attempts by the civic body not to accept waste from the villages of his constituency.
