MARGAO
A day after he assessed the ground situation at the Sonsodo waste management shed upon High Court directions, South Goa Collector Asvin Chandru, IAS has submitted a report to the Court stating that the way forward to resolve the Sonsodo imbroglio is for the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to implement the Action Plan as per revised dates in letter and spirit.
Suggesting a host of measures to resolve the issues plaguing Sonsodo and waste management, the Collector has called for the transportation of 20 MT of wet waste by the MMC to the Saligao plant without fail to reduce the accumulation at Sonsodo.
As far as the piled-up waste inside the shed is concerned, the Collector has called for the removal of the 10,000 MT of the accumulated waste, screened and disposed of by the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) as a deposit work by the MMC.
The Collector called for work at the site after the monsoon for disposal of the piled-up waste within six months.
Another suggestion mooted by the Collector is the creation of additional space at Sonsodo as per the approval by the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC).
While the Collector has called for augmenting the water capacity of the tank from 50,000 to one lakh litre (additional tank to be installed), Chandru has further called for shifting of HT line (33 KVA) passing through Sonsodo site by Electricity Department (option underground line).
Other measures suggested include the extension of the common sewer line by the Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL) to Sonsodo to connect sewer waste.
As far as the landfill is concerned, the Collector said the site be completed by GWMC for disposal of inert material while calling for the installation of CCTV at Sonsodo with a control unit.
The Collector said the MMC should immediately set up an office at the site with designated staff and a municipal engineer.
To keep recurring fires at bay, the Collector has called for the removal of the matured dry waste lying inside the MSW shed, prone to fire hazards, adding that it be stored on the ground floor at the composed storage area, which will resolve the fire incidents in future.
Collector wants fresh structural stability test of Sonsodo shed
MARGAO:
The South Goa Collector has called for obtaining a fresh structural stability test certificate from the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) in respect of the Sonsodo waste management shed.
In the report submitted to the High Court, the Collector stated that the Goa College of Engineering had issued a structural stability certificate stating that the structure housing the Sonsodo waste shed is stable after the walls shed had collapsed due to overloading of the shed with waste.
While dwelling on the stability of the existing MSW shed, the Collector has called for a fresh certificate to be obtained by the MMC in respect of the waste management shed.
The Collector’s decision assumes significance after he came across the broken walls and waste spilling out of the shed through the damaged walls during his inspection on Monday as per the Court's directions.
MMC constitutes team of engineers to monitor work at Sonsodo plant
MARGAO:
A day after the High Court directions, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) issued an order appointing a team of engineers headed by Municipal Engineer Manoj Arsekar to work in rotation and monitor the work at the Sonsodo waste treatment plant.
Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar told The Goan on Tuesday that the order constituting a team of engineers to monitor the Sonsodo work and to set up a permanent office at the site has been issued on Tuesday and submitted to the High Court.
The team comprises a municipal engineer, an assistant engineer and junior engineers.
The Chief Officer informed that the MMC has an office set at Sonsodo and the same will be occupied by the engineers to discharge their duties.
Questions over MMC bid to take up GWMC duty of clearing dump
MARGAO
As the Sonsodo imbroglio is under the High Court’s lens, one question that has remained unanswered is “ what made the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) take up the work of removing and remediating the 10,000 metric tonnes of piled-up wet waste inside the Sonsodo shed when the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) is responsible for the remediation of the legacy dump under High Court monitoring?
This question has been doing the rounds after the MMC decided to take up the remediation work of the piled-up waste at a whopping cost of Rs two crore instead of getting the work executed through the GWMC as depository work.
It’s another question that the MMC could not obtain administrative approval from the government after the proposal did not find favour with the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA).
Indeed, a host of questions have come to stare at the Margao municipality over its decision to float the tender to dispose of the piled-up waste, approximately 10,000 metric tonnes as per MMC’s rough estimate at an estimated cost of Rs two crore.
One, why did the MMC engage the GWMC to dispose of the waste and remediate the same when the Corporation had twice remediated the waste piled up inside the plant? This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the GWMC has completed remediation of the Sonsodo legacy dump, if one goes by the GWMC’s submission made in the court, throwing up questions about what prompted the MMC to call for floating a tender to remediate the piled-up waste.
Was the decision to float a tender to remediate the piled-up waste at an estimated cost of Rs two crore taken by the Council or whether the decision was taken on grounds that the civic body was looking out for better options to remediate the piled-up waste?
Incidentally, the GWMC had twice carted out and remediated the piled-up waste from the Sonsodo shed, first in 2020 during the first Covid pandemic wave, and again when the waste management shed was saturated with waste.
Sources in the know informed that the piled-up waste would have been carted out and remediated by now had the MMC entrusted the job to the GWMC.
Interestingly, MMC counsel, Adv Padiyar, had submitted before the High Court at the hearing on April 12 that the existing old wet waste in the Sonsodo waste management shed will be positively cleared by the end of September 2023. This statement was accepted as an undertaking to the Court, with the High Court observing the MMC will have to act accordingly. Three months down the line, the piled-up waste is all stacked up inside the shed, leaving hardly any room for dumping daily fresh waste in the shed.
