MARGAO
Margao Municipal councillors on Friday treaded a cautious path on garbage management, as they conveyed a message loud and clear to the government that Sonsodo should not be treated as a laboratory to test new technology in the field of waste management.
The demand by the councillors for transparency in garbage management came against the backdrop of the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar filing an affidavit before the High Court earlier this week stating that the Margao civic body will involve the Chief Minister-headed High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) to take a call on the technology to be adopted at Sonsodo for waste management.
The MMC councillor’s demand at the Council meeting chaired by Chairperson Damu Shirodkar also assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) floating a tender to set up a 10TPD gasification plant at Sonsodo for the Margao Municipal Council.
During discussions on the budget estimates for the financial year 2024-25, councillors, cutting across party affiliations, pointed out that there ought to be transparency on the question of setting up a garbage management plant at Sonsodo.
Councillor Francis Joanes set the ball rolling when he sought details on the 10TPD gasification plant floated by GEDA at Sonsodo and announcement made by Waste Management Minister Atanasio Monserrate to set up a 15-20TPD bio-methanation plant at the waste dumping site.
With the Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar conceding that the MMC has agree in principle for the gasification plant at Sonsodo, councillor Shagun Naik called for caution given the bitter past experience when waste treatment plants were thrust on the MMC before they all failed.
Calling for a permanent solution to the Sonsodo waste imbroglio, Shagun called for placing all details pertaining to the waste treatment technology before the Council coupled with a power point presentation for the benefit of the councillors. “We had a bitter past experience when technologies imposed on the Council, including Komex, was a big failure. The Council should be taken into confidence at the time of technology selection,” he said.
Former Margao Municipal Chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar called for transparency in the technology selection so that the right waste management technology suited for Sonsodo is implemented.
Councillor Francis wondered when will the government take the Council into confidence with GEDA already tendering a 10TPD gasification plant.
Ruling councillor Sadanand Naik demanded to know who will assume responsibility in the event the new technology also turns out a failure.
Council budget estimates approved; stress on recovery of house tax, trade licence dues
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council on Friday approved budget estimates for the financial year 2024-25 stressing on recovery of additional revenue from house tax and trade licence in view of the ongoing assessment exercise.
The opposition led by former Chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar questioned the Chief Officer why the exercise could not be set in motion in the month of December as per the provisions of the Goa Municipalities Act, saying the Act lays down clear guidelines on how to go about the budget.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar later told the media that the budget estimates for the financial year 2024-25 has been approved after fruitful discussions by the councillors. He said councillors Ganashyam Shirodkar, Francis Joanes, Shagun Naik, Sadanand Naik and others gave valuable inputs during the discussions.
Confusion, however, prevailed over the budget estimates, as the estimates were pegged at Rs 140-odd crore. Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar, however, attributed the confusion to the figures shown in the opening balance.
The MMC Chairperson said given that the house and shops assessment exercise is underway, the budget has projected additional revenue of over Rs 3 crore from house tax and trade licence.
He said the present Council has resolved some of the contentious issues including the Gandhi market arbitration, the Colmorod road case. Saying that the Supreme Court has passed an order to bring the three BS4 trucks on the roads, Damu said he has asked the Chief Officer to institute an inquiry to nail the officials responsible for not registering the vehicles before the BS6 regime came into force in 2021 and to recover the money spent on the Supreme Court lawyer from the erring officials.
