MARGAO
If the Margao Municipal Council has earned the ire of the High Court on Monday over the state of affairs at Sonsdo, the civic body will have to blame itself for its abject failure to implement the Action Plan submitted to the Court at the last date of hearing on April 12.
The civic body has defaulted in implementing its own timelines on a host of projects proposed at Sonsodo as contained in the action plan. The municipality had three long months at its disposal to implement the timelines and put the action plan in place, but in vain. On the contrary, the MMC is believed to have approached the High Court with a prayer for an extension of the timelines after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant-headed High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) had last month agreed to seek a further extension to implement the projects at Sonsodo.
Consider this. The MMC had given an undertaking to construct a platform on the western side of the MSW shed for windrow composting at Sonsodo by May 6, 2023. After it failed to meet the deadline, the MMC now says it has issued the work order to execute the work on July 5, 2023, and the work will now be completed on July 20.
Similarly, the MMC had on April 12 given an undertaking to the High Court to repair and construct the eastern side plinth wall and construction of a drainage system with a platform for windrow composting at Sonsodo. The work was supposed to be completed by May 7, 2023. The MMC now says the work order has been issued on June 30 and the work will be completed only on August 29.
That’s not all. The MMC had promised to execute and complete work on the construction of the platform to carry out windrow composting on the western side of the MSW shed by April 15 2023. The civic body now says a work order for the project has been issued on June 30 and the same will be completed by July 30.
If sources are to be believed, the MMC has not taken up the work on two major projects, including the construction of the retaining wall on the western side and the shed over the composting platform. The MMC has now drawn up plans to complete the work by November 30, 2023.
As far as the firefighting mechanism is concerned, the MMC is believed to have installed four fire extinguishers. However, no fire hydrant system is in place, with the existing one either outdated or out of service.
Incidentally, there seemed no turnaround at the Sonsodo shed in respect of the treatment of the daily wet waste. The Goan understands that the shed is playing host to around 10,000 metric tonnes of piled-up waste, with the MMC depositing around 10 MT tonnes of daily waste in the shed.
The present status of garbage treatment at Sonsodo reveals that no treatment of daily wet waste is taking place. Instead, the MMC is transporting 20 MT of wet waste to the Saligao treatment plant daily, with another 5 MT of wet waste treated at the SGPDA market.
Collector wades through muck to check status after HC orders
MARGAO
South Goa Collector, Asvin Chandru, IAS literally walked through the muck at Sonsodo as he descended at the waste dumping site on Monday noon to check the status of the dump yard as per the High Court directions.
With Additional Collectors, Srinet Kothwale and Dipak Desai in tow and accompanied by Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar and Municipal engineers, the Collector saw for himself the pathetic ground reality at Sonsodo.
At one place, Collector Chandru walked through the muck on a nonexistent road, while other officials were left with no option but to walk over a dry waste mound.
The Collectors were welcomed by a dry waste mound at Sonsodo, indicating that all is not well with the balling of the dry waste over issues connected to the power supply.
Inquiries have only revealed that the total dry waste lying unprocessed is pegged at around 300-400 TMT due to the failure of the baling machines. The daily addition of dry waste at Sonsodo is pegged at 10 TMT.
The worst scenario was yet to come. When the Collector passed through the waste management shed, he came across walls that collapsed months ago. Waste stacked inside the shed was found coming out and hanging over the walls, indicating the MMC has not repaired the walls to date.
That’s not all. When the delegation entered the waste management shed, the Collector was greeted by piled-up waste inside the shed pegged at around 10,000 metric tonnes.
The Collector was briefed by a Municipal engineer that the wet waste lying in the MSW shed was pegged at around 1,00,00 MT, while the amount of additional waste deposited inside the shed was put at 10 MT daily.
He was further informed that while the MMC transports around 15 tonnes of wet waste to the Saligao plant daily for disposal, another 5 MT of waste is treated at SGPDA Market.
Leachate begins flowing from legacy dump despite tarpaulin
MARGAO
Even as the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has covered the RDF at the Sonsodo legacy dump with tarpaulin sheets to protect the same from rain, leachate seemed to have started flowing from the dump to the adjoining drains.
When the South Goa Collector Asvin Chandru, IAS descended at Sonsodo for an inspection as per the High Court directions, leachate was flowing from the dump into the drains.
The RDF dump was found open in a couple of places with workers on the job to stitch the sheets to prevent rainwater from entering.
The Sonsodo legacy dump is being covered every year during the monsoons to prevent the flow of leachate into the adjoining drains which later flows into the water bodies.
SCM objects to HPCC meetings
MARGAO
The Shadow Council for Margao has strongly objected to the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meetings on Sonsodo.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, SCM convenor Savio Coutinho has prayed that all decisions taken by the technically defunct HPCC Committee be questioned.
“Submissions made based on the decisions of the HPCC meeting held on May 22, 2023, be rejected outright,” Coutinho demanded.
