MARGAO
The raging fire that engulfed Sonsodo waste dumping site was successfully capped late Friday, thanks to Margao fire brigade’s fire-fighting operation at the site against all odds.
Ahead of the visit of Waste Management Minister Atanasio Monserrate and Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane at Sonsodo on Tuesday, a burning question has come to stare at the Margao Municipal Council and the government “ will Friday’s fire incident come as an eye opener to the powers that be to put in place a permanent mechanism for the disposal of the 35 tonnes of wet waste generated in the commercial capital?
While garbage handling and disposal falls in the domain of the local civic bodies, the Margao Municipal Council is pinning hopes on Monserrate and Rane to bail out the civic body and ensure the government intervenes at Sonsodo to put a lasting solution a la Saligao.
In fact, right from the City Fathers to the civic babus, they all expect the Waste Management Minister and the Urban Development Minister to make a big announcement and unveil the road map to bring about a turnaround at Sonsodo.
Carting out piled waste and funding
The Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has prepared estimates to the tune of around Rs 3 crore to cart out the 14,000 tonnes of piled up waste inside the Sonsodo waste treatment plant. While the GWMC had prepared the estimates at the request of the Margao civic body, sources in the know now say the MMC is now looking forward to the two Ministers to fund the project to cart out the piled up waste and remediate the same.
Will Margao waste be shifted to Cacora plant?
This is another question the MMC expects the two Ministers, Babush Monserrate and Vishwajit Rane to answer since the Cacora plant is due for commissioning around May. Sources in the Margao Municipal Council said if the Cacora plant takes care of even 15-20 tonnes of waste per day, the balance 10-15 tonnes can be handled by the civic body via the three bio-methanation plants, out of which one stands commissioned so far.
What next after the Sonsodo plant is rid of the piled up garbage, is a question that has come to haunt the Margao Municipal Council. For, a similar exercise of carting out the piled waste was carried out by the GWMC Corporation in mid-2020 at a cost of Rs 84 lakh, before the plant was handed back empty to the MMC to run the waste treatment operation. Sadly, instead of roping in a contractor to run the plant and handle the daily wet waste generated in the city, the waste was just dumped into the plant sans treatment, as a result of which the shed is full to the brim with 14,000 tonnes of waste.
Million dollar question
While the MMC officials will be more than happy to transport the daily city waste to Cacora, the civic body will be faced with a million dollar question “ whether the MMC will not have its own garbage handling facility at Sosnodo to take care of the waste disposal requirements?
For, the government has spent crores of rupees on the remediation of legacy dump ever since it was decided that remediation of the dump would help to reclaim prime land admeasuring 15,000 sq mtrs.
