the goan I network
MARGAO
With the civic body coming under the National Green Tribunal’s scanner over the failure to send segregated waste to the Sonsodo waste treatment plant, the Margao Municipal Council on Monday unveiled the road map for the segregation of waste at source which is expected to kickstart by January 31.
As a first step in that direction, the council on Monday adopted a resolution giving its go ahead to a proposal to extend the existing door-to-door waste collection at source contract from seven wards to 12 wards. Though the proposal received support from the council, councillors representing the wards falling in Margao expressed their strong reservations, demanding to know why all wards in Fatorda area are proposed to be covered, while Margao areas is left in the lurch.
Councillors representing the Margao areas led by Arthur D’Silva, Doris Texeira, Ketan Kurtarkar, Damu Naik and others demanded to know why the civic body is only concentrating in Fatorda and neglecting Margao wards.
They were all on their feet to seek an assurance from the Chairperson and Chief Officer that the civic body would also take up waste segregation at sources in the remaining wards in Margao simultaneously.
Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai sought to assuage the sentiments of the councillors, ruling out any discrimination against the wards falling in Margao constituency. She said the council is only extending the contract of the incumbent contractor engaged for the door-to-door waste collection in the seven wards.
She assured the councillors that all the 25 municipal wards will be covered under the waste segregation at source scheme by January 31 through the departmental staff.
“Any way, we are very much serious in taking the waste collection to its logical conclusion. The NGT panel that had visited Sonsodo waste dumping site has made it clear that they had a very bad experience with the state of affairs at Sonsodo. They have even asked the civic body to give them a list of the officers drafted for the work of solid waste management as they plan to resort to deduction of salaries if there is no improvement in the solid waste management exercise,” she added.
The municipal Chairperson explained to the city fathers that the municipal officers have divided the city into several zones for better management of all issues concerning waste management.
“We have put in place a road map to resolve the waste problem. We have invited the Director of Municipal Administration to guide the officers on how to go about waste collection at source,” she said, adding that the council has asked for a plot of land admeasuring 200 square meters at Sonsodo for further sorting of the segregated waste.
In the meantime, the council has further resolved to set up two garbage receptacles at Mungul and near Durga petrol pump, which will be manned by the municipal staff.
