the goan I network
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council on Saturday has agreed to pay an amount of Rs 1 lakh per day to Fomento in lieu of the treatment of waste supplied by the civic body at the company-owned waste treatment plant at Sonsodo.
When the arbitration application filed by Fomento came up for hearing before the South Goa district and Sessions Judge, B P Deshpande on Saturday morning, MMC senior lawyer, Adv S Padiyar submitted to the court that the civic body will pay an amount of Rs 1 lakh per day for the treatment of city’s waste at the plant. This implies that the civic body has agreed to pay to Fomento for treating the city’s waste at its treatment facility at Sonsodo at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per day since August 9, the day Concession agreement termination notice came into effect, till date.
While Fomento will raise a bill on September 4 of the amount due to the company for the treatment of MMC waste from August 9-31, the civic body has agreed to clear the amount within a week’s time.
As far as the treatment of the solid waste that will be supplied to the treatment plant from September 1, the MMC will pay to Fomento at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per day on a weekly basis. Fomento senior Counsel Adv R A Dada, however, made it clear to the civic body that the company will accept only segregated waste at the treatment plant, saying the company does not want the situation to come to full circle if MMC supplies mixed waste at the plant.
The court also stated that the August 3 relief granted to Fomento stating that the civic body will not take any coercive action against Fomento will continue till further orders.
As far as the payment of termination amount of Rs 14 crore is concerned, the MMC submitted before the court the Council resolution, expressing its willingness to pay 10 per cent of the termination amount. MMC Counsel Adv S Padiyar said the civic body will deposit the amount of Rs 1.40 crore before the court.
Earlier, when Adv Padiyar submitted before the court that Fomento should not stop accepting waste at the treatment plant given that the Ganesh festivities are round the corner, Judge Deshpande said the civic body should look at a solution to the issue beyond Ganesh Chathurti, adding ‘the city will not survive if there’s no cleanliness around’.
While adjourning the matter to September 30, Judge Desphande asked the two parties to explore the possibility of working out a solution to the issue.
Municipal Counsel Adv Padiyar later explained to the media that though the MMC has offered to pay Rs 1 lakh per day to Fomento as the amount for the treatment of waste, the payment will be subject to the final outcome of the arbitration proceedings as well as the writ petition pending in the High Court. “If the final outcome shows that the MMC has paid more than what was supposed to be paid to Fomento, the civic body will get a refund of the amount,” Adv Padiyar said.
