MARGAO
When the Margao Municipal Council submitted an action plan in the High Court on April 12 last to put Sonsodo in place, the Court accepted the plan, but with a caution that the Margao civic body will have to adhere to the timeline without giving any further excuses.
What was, however, feared all along that the Margao Municipality may not be able to stick to the timelines, given its bitter past experience, seemed to have come true.
To every submission contained in the action plan prepared by the civic body in the Court on putting measures in place at the waste dumping site, the High Court bench comprising of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice M S Sonak had observed that the statements are accepted and the MMC will have to adhere to the timeline without giving any excuses.
Consider this. It’s exactly a week since the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting on Sonsodo chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant decided on a slew of measures to put Sonsodo back on track.
Amongst the decisions taken by the HPCC, however, includes recommendation for the extension in the timeline for the compliance of works proposed by the Margao civic body as per the action plan filed before the High Court. The recommendation for extension of the time limit has been granted by the HPCC on the plea the civic body could not achieve it for various reasons and beyond the Municipal control, besides owing to practical difficulties.
Leave alone putting fire-fighting arrangements in place at Sonsodo, none of the remaining works proposed by the MMC in the action plan submitted before the High Court, to bring about a turnaround at the waste dumping site has failed to materialise till date.
In fact, the process set in motion to complete the works proposed under the action plan are all running behind schedule. As many as three projects, construction of concrete platform on the western side of the MSW shed for windrow composting at Sonsodo; repair and construction of eastern side plinth wall and construction of drainage system with platform for windrow composting; construction of retaining wall on the western side boundary of Sonsodo, besides the construction of shed over the composting platform at Sonsodo, which were all supposed to be completed by the end of first week of May have failed to see the light of day. The HPCC has now recommended extension of time to complete these works by June-end.
Similarly, construction of the retaining wall on the western side of Sonsodo boundary was scheduled for completion by end of first week of June. The work is now expected to be completed by June 30.
The construction and extension of the MRF shed for dry waste sorting at MSW side at Sonsodo was scheduled for completion on July 15. The same is now expected to be completed around September-end.
That’s not all. The Margao Municipal Council had proposed to set in motion the process to cart out piled up waste amounting to around 10,000 metric tons and remediate the same by September-end. The proposal mooted by the MMC has so far not found favour with the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA).
