the goan I network
MARGAO
Day five of the raging Sonsodo fire saw Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with Power Minister Nilesh Cabral in tow descending on the waste dumping site early Friday morning, with the CM making a frank admission that neither is the fire and smoke under control and that the incident has triggered pollution in the immediate neighbourhood.
District Collector South Ajit Roy also made his presence felt at the site on Friday since the fire broke out on Monday noon. Additional Collector, Agnelo Fernandes, had been monitoring the situation at Sonsodo since the last four days.
The Chief Minister headed to Sonsodo straight after landing at the Dabolim airport early Friday morning, only to realize the magnitude of the problem in and around the site. Realizing that four days of fire-fighting operation has hardly brought the desired change on the ground, the Chief Minister immediately set in motion the process to activate the administration.
After telephonically speaking to Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai, and conveying his decision to convene a meeting of the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting later on Friday evening, the Chief Minister personally called up the Director of Health Services Dr Sanjeev Dalvi with directions to mobilize medical teams to the smoke-hit areas of Curtorim and Sonsodo.
The Chief Minister conceded that fire and smoke was not under control at Sonsodo even after four days of operations. “The fire is certainly not under control. The smoke is continuously emanating. There is pollution around. I could not come here in the last three days because of my pre-occupation”, Sawant told waiting media persons at the dump after inspecting the site and the waste treatment plant.
Promising to work out an immediate solution to the problem, the Chief Minster said he has instructed the Health Director to depute medical teams to the Gandhi road and other areas of Maina area of Curtorim to check any cases of respiratory problems faced by the residents.
