MARGAO
Remediation of the Sonsodo legacy dump has resumed again at the waste dumping site, even as questions are being raised whether the over half-a-century old dump will be totally remediated before the onset of monsoons.
Goa Waste Management Corporation Managing Director, Levinson Martins said the Corporation will expedite the remediation of the legacy dump before the onset of months. He, however, reminded that the Corporation has at its disposal total time-frame of 36 months to clear the dump, excluding the monsoon period, between June and October.
Remediation of the legacy dump, which is being monitored by the High Court following a petition filed by Citizens for Sonsodo, could not resume after the last monsoon, first due to the extended monsoons and thereafter over the delay in transporting hundreds of tonnes of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) generated during the remediation process.
In fact, the remediation, which was scheduled to resume in the month of December, however, has taken place only around mid-March, throwing up the question whether the legacy dump will be remediated before the onset of monsoons.
Martins, however, defended the delay in resuming the operations at Sonsodo. “First, the extended rains delayed the entire process. Later, we had to grapple with the issue of disposing off the RDF from Sonsodo. There was also a delay on the party of the Karnataka-based cement factories to accept the RDF from Sonsodo in particular and from Goa in general. The work was also affected to some extent since the Margao Municipal Council could not arrange an alternate site to store the RDF,” he said.
The GWMC Managing Director further pointed out that the Corporation cannot give a firm guarantee when the work will be completed for the simple reason that no one knows for sure how deep is the legacy dump at Sonsodo.
Sonsodo was in the news earlier this month when fire engulfed a portion of the legacy dump, which later spread to the shed housing the baling machines, destroying electric transformer and other electrical equipment worth around Rs 40 lakh.
