margao
With just seven days to go for the termination of the Margao Municipal Council-Fomento agreement on Sonsodo, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Friday said the civic body is prepared for any eventuality, but in the same vein added that the government’s role in the issue appears confusion, with no clear defined role for the Solid Waste Management Corporation at Sonsodo.
During an interaction with the media after he along with Margao MLA Digambar Kamat inaugurated the two garbage compactors procured by the Civic body, Vijai said Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik is in touch with the government, but said the role of the Solid Waste Management Corporation is still unclear, whether it will only take up bio-remediation of the existing waste or take over the Sonsodo site. “I do not know what the government has in mind for Sonsodo. The Saligao process is different from Sonsodo’s technology. I do not think the corporation will replicate the Saligao model at Sonsodo,” he said.
Saying that Sonsodo is located in his constituency, Vijai said his eyes and ears are on the Sonsodo and what’s happening at the site, adding that everyone should join hands to ensure that the people are not inconvenienced and the nobody holds the city to ransom.
Fomento’s 60-day termination notice ends on August 9 and the Margao civic body is yet to unveil the alternate plan on how to go about the job when the concessionaire has made it categorically clear that it will not hand over the plant facility unless the civic body makes the payment of the termination payment pegged at around Rs 14 crore.
In fact, Fomento has further made it clear to the Margao civic body that it will have no option than to shut down the waste treatment facility after August 9 if the MMC does not clear the termination payment. So far, the civic body has not got back to Fomento on the question of payment nor has unveiled any plan of action to meet the situation after August 9, with the civic body only seeking details whether the concessionaire had obtained necessary permissions from the concerned authorities to operate the plan all these years. Margao MLA Digambar Kamat did not go into the issues but said the procurement of the compactors and the proposal to buy additional trucks will help transportation of waste from the city.
Hell will break loose if CM goes ahead with Raia plant: Vijai
MARGAO: Saying that he is personally opposed to plans to set up a waste treatment plant at Raia on land measuring 30,000 square meters acquired by the Margao Municipal Council, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai took a dig at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, saying only a Saxttikar will understand the pulse of the people and that an outside doctor will not have any solution to the problem.
When the media drew his attention to the opposition brewing in neighbouring Raia over the Chief Minister’s statement that a waste treatment plant will be set up at Raia on the MMC acquired land, Vijai said he is personally opposed to doing anything on the MMC acquired land other than retaining the land for social forestry. “During my stint as Forest Minister, I had declared the acquired land for Urban forests. There’s big public opposition at Raia. What CM has said, I have nothing to say, but I am sure that all hell will break loose at Raia and we will have a new problem,” he said.
