the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa will celebrate 32 years of Statehood on Thursday and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is hoping to kick-start a mass garbage management effort by large-scale promotion of mini home composting machines for homes and work places with the hope of commencing a ‘Clean Goa, Green Goa’ mission.
Quoting the maxim ‘I will treat the waste I generate’ Sawant took an oath on the eve of Statehood Day on Wednesday, by which he vowed to ensure waste generated at the Secretariat and in government offices is taken care of. The Chief Minister said he has requested both the Deputy Chief Ministers - Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar and Vijai Sardesai - besides the Opposition Leader, Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar, to similarly swear oaths to achieve a ‘Clean Goa, Green Goa’ in the belief that people too will emulate their leaders and start treating their own waste.
Sawant urged every Goan to also do the same - buy the composting machines - but insisted that the State government may consider some subsidy but will not provide any free. He insisted that it would hurt the cause as people have a tendency of not using judiciously such stuff whenever it comes free of cost. “We will control the fire soon... in a few days,” Sawant said, adding that a legal hitch is complicating the matter but will be sorted out. He however declined to spell out what the legal hitch was or how his government will resolve it.
Sawant who addressed a press conference, his first at the chief minister’s official bungalow at Altinho - Mahalaxmi - said, he has already purchased the composting machine for his own home and he will also assess the requirements of the Secretariat and other government offices.
Sawant also gave a brief demo of how the composting machine works on the lawns of the CM’s bungalow, where he claimed they cost between Rs 1,000 and Rs 7,000.
Meanwhile, under the Swachh Bharat Mission, Sawant said his government intends to clean up Goa by involving panchayats and municipal councils in the Clean Goa, Green Goa mission.
Two Statehood Day functions will be held on Thursday - one at Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji in North Goa and the other at Gomant Vidhya Niketan hall, Margao - where civic body chiefs and their chief officers, sarpanchas and secretaries of all panchayats among others will also take oaths similar to his own to spread the Clean Goa, Green Goa mission across the State.
While admitting that the composting machines will only take care of wet, biodegradable waste, Sawant said simultaneous steps will also be taken to manage non-biodegradable stuff including e-waste, bio-medical waste, etcectra.
“We will dispose it scientifically. Hopefully in a year’s time, three more solid waste management facilities will be in place at Cacoda-Curchorem, Verna and in Bainguinim-Old Goa,” Sawant said.
Ironically, even as Sawant took to seriously flaunting the ‘swachh’ motto, fire-fighters have been struggling for over two days to douse fires at one of Goa’s largest garbage dump at Sonsodo which largely caters to Margao city.
Highly combustible methane trapped under the mounds of garbage accumulated over decades has made the fire-fighters’ task insurmountable and a company from Mumbai is concurrently trying to use enzymes to put out the flames.
Sawant meanwhile said he is monitoring the operations at Sonsodo and added that Sardesai, who’s Fatorda constituency the garbage dump skirts, is also on the job.
