MARGAO
When the Margao municipal counsel made a statement in High Court that the existing old wet waste piled up in the Sonsodo waste management shed will be positively cleared by September 2023, the Bench comprising Justice M S Sonak and Justice Valmiki Menezes accepted it as an undertaking to the Court with a direction that the MMC will have to act accordingly.
The MMC counsel had made the statement in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Writ Petition filed by the Citizens for Sonsodo through its Secretary Roque Mascarenhas on April 12 last.
Exactly six days from now, the matter is scheduled to come up for a hearing on July 10, but the ground reality at the Sonsodo shed remains unchanged.
On the contrary, the waste management shed was engulfed by fire on two occasions since the last date of hearing on April 12 till date, the first on May 15 and the recent incident last week on June 30, throwing up questions about how would MMC explain to the High Court its failure to bring about a turnaround at the shed when the self-imposed deadline to clear the piled waste by September expires in two months.
If sources are to be believed, the MMC seemed to have failed to honour the undertaken given to the Court to clear the piled-up waste from the shed and to set up a firefighting mechanism at the plant.
MMC officials, however, in the know have pushed the buck on the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) for the delay in tendering the work to clear the piled-up waste.
“After the undertaking to the High Court, MMC had decided to take up the work for Rs two crore to cart out the piled-up waste and remediate the same. The proposal, however, did not find favour with the GSUDA,” remarked a civic official.
The official added: “GSUDA declined the nod to MMC to tender the work of clearing the piled-up waste. Instead, GSUDA proposed to adopt a new technology to treat the waste. We are still waiting for GSUDA to present the technology to MMC for its implementation.”
Questions are being raised in MMC about why the civic body decided to take up the work of carting out the piled up and its remediation when the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) had twice cleared the waste on behalf of the municipality.
That’s not all. Questions are again raised since when the GSUDA came across a new technology to handle piled-up waste when the GWMC, under High Court monitoring, had cleared the Sonsodo legacy dump with the bio-remediation technology.
A civic official told The Goan that the MMC cannot be blamed if GSUDA did not approve floating a tender for the remediation.
“Let GSUDA explain to the High Court what is the new technology that the agency has been harping on to clear the waste. If the GSUDA technology finds favour with the High Court, the MMC will have no issue implementing it,” the official said while pushing the blame on GSUDA for the delay in taking up the work.
Incidentally, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) had on April 12 placed records before the High Court, stating that the Sonsodo shed is now full of waste and that screening must commence immediately so that the old waste is cleared at the earliest. The ground reality, however, remains unchanged. The only change that has taken place since the April 12 hearing is that the MMC has increased the amount of garbage transported from Sonsodo to the Saligao plant to around 15 tonnes per day.
MMC fails to set up firefighting mechanism despite plan in HC
MARGAO
When the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) submitted an Action Plan to the High Court on April 12 with a host of measures to set up a firefighting mechanism at Sonsodo, the Court observed that the MMC Assistant Engineer shall be responsible for ensuring that the fire arrangements are in place within a month at the site.
Since April 12 till date, the Sonsodo shed has recorded two fire incidents on May 15 and again last week on June 30, with the fire capped by the Margao fire brigade. Question the Margao Fire officials, and apt comes a reply that no firefighting mechanism has been put in place to date.
How the MMC would explain its failure to set up the firefighting mechanism at Sonsodo to the High Court, other than saying that the civic body had floated the tender, but there have been no takers and that the MMC has re-tendered the works at the waste dumping site.
Incidentally, while accepting the MMC firefighting mechanism at Sonsodo, the High Court had observed that the civic body will have to take immediate measures because, in the past, there have been several fire incidents.
“Such fires are extremely dangerous, and the people from this region have suffered enough. The raging fires are a serious health hazard and therefore, the MMC should ensure that fire management arrangements are in place within one month as undertaken by them. The MMC Assistant Engineer shall be responsible for ensuring that the fire arrangements are in place within a month from today,” the High Court had observed.
