Waste problem staring at the SGPDA retail market is far from over. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Waste continues to pose a health hazard and an eyesore in the SGPDA’s retail market as the triple engine “ the State government, South Goa Planning and Development Authority and the Margao Municipal Council seemed to have run out of ideas to stem the rot plaguing the State’s mega retail market.
Consider this. Apart from the BJP government ruling the State, the mega retail market is owned and managed by the SGPDA, headed by BJP MLA, Krishna Daji Salkar.
That’s not all. The agency involved in the day-to-day collection of waste from the SGPDA market is the Margao Municipal Council, which is ruled by the BJP and controlled by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and BJP State president Damu Naik.
Yet, despite this political alignment, absence of coordination between the SGPDA and the MMC on waste collection and disposal seemed to have pushed the market into a state of neglect. Waste dumps have taken shape at the market periphery, has turned the market complex into both a public health hazard and an eyesore.
Besides lack of coordination, sources in the know pointed out that the SGPDA and the MMC have failed to perform their respective functions on waste collection and disposal.
Consider this. Margao Municipal officials claim that the SGPDA mega market complex falls under the category of bulk waste generator, mandating the Planning body to handle its own waste by setting up a waste treatment plant. The official added: “We have never insisted on the PDA to treat its waste as per the guidelines governing bulk waste generators. However, since the MMC has been collecting the market waste from day one, the bare minimum job the SGPDA should do is segregate the waste generated in the market before handing over the same to the MMC collection van. There should be no problem if the PDA adopts this mode,” the official said.
He added; “We have never refused to collect day-to-day waste from the SGPDA market although the PDA has not paid garbage collection fees for the last so many years. At least, the PDA should segregate the waste before it handing over to the MMC.”
In the alternative, MMC officials pointed out that the SGPDA should send the waste generated in the market directly to the Cacora waste treatment plant for disposal. “The PDA will then realise that the plant will not accept the waste without segregation,” the official added.
SGPDA Chairperson, MLA Krishna Salkar, on the other hand, maintained that it is the responsibility of the local body, i.e. the Margao Municipal Council to lift the waste generated in the market. “Waste collection and disposal falls in the domain of the local civic body. The issue needs to be resolved amicably taking into account the interest of the citizens,” he said.
When his attention was drawn to the claims made by Margao Municipal officials that the PDA has not paid the garbage collection fees amounting to over Rs 1.80 crore, the PDA made a counter claim, asserting that the MMC owes the PDA crores of rupees by way of rent for the property leased out to the civic body to set up the 5TPD bio-methanation plant.
