PERMANENT PITIFUL PILES?
No solution yet to Sonsodo dump and Cuncolim hazardous waste
GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO: Is there any permanent solution to the bio-degradable and chemical waste problems staring at Sonsodo and the Cuncolim Industrial Estate?
Year after year, both the Sonsodo garbage dumping site and the 25,000-tonne hazardous waste abandoned at the Cuncolim IDC are being covered with tarpaulin to prevent leachate and chemicals from contaminating the ground water and the water bodies. Lakhs of rupees of tax payers money have gone down the drain to carry out this annual exercise with no permanent solution forthcoming till date.
Now with the monsoon in full fury, the authorities have been caught napping as both the bio-degradable dump yard at Sonsodo and the chemical waste mound at the Cuncolim IDC are being exposed to rains.
Cuncolim IDC
Photo caption. The hazardous waste abandoned at the Cuncolim IDC exposed to rains. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar.
A visit to the hazardous waste mound left behind by Ms Sunrise Zinc at Cuncolim revealed that the heap is still awaiting capping this year. Two years ago, the site was capped by The Axis, the present occupier of the plot following directions from the Goa State Pollution Control Board. Last year, the site was covered with tarpaulin by the GSPCB on condition that the cost amounting to Rs five lakh will be recovered from the SBI, Mumbai, The Axis and the management of Sunrise Zinc. While SBI has paid its share of the capping expenditure, The Axis has knocked the doors of the Supreme court for relief.
Left with no option, GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said the Board has initiated the process to cap the hazardous site. “Our process to cap the site is presently underway and the Board will award the tender and ensure that work on the capping project is carried out expeditiously,” Noronha said.
Unfortunately, there’s no firm proposal till date to solve the issue once and for by disposing the hazardous waste. Initially, plans were mooted to transport the 25,000 tonne waste to Gujarat, but it came a cropper. Also, promises to lift the waste to the proposed hazardous waste dumping site at Dharbandora has not materialised with the site finding no favour with the local residents. “The GSPCB is exploring various options to dispose the waste. The IDC has in its possession land admeasuring 10,000 sq mts which is now being looked at as a site that could be developed as a landfill,” Noronha added.
Sonsodo waste yard
Photo caption. The Sonsodo site awaiting capping though its days now since the monsoon has set in the state. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar,
Many a Madgavkar and residents of neighbouring Curtorim and Raia villages might have expected the Margao Municipal Council to act fast and cap the Sonsodo waste dumping site before the onset of monsoons. Local residents have been virtually after the civic body to get the site capped before the monsoons, even as the covering is mandated by the High Court.
The ground reality, however, speaks otherwise. Despite NGOs and residents repeatedly knocking the doors of the MMC to cap the site, the civic body is still in the process of completing the tender formalities. While MMC Chairperson Arthur D’Silva has blamed the outgoing Chief Officer, questions are raised as to why the civic body had to wait till the monsoons to arrive to float the tender.
Incidentally, the Margao civic body has spent a whopping over Rs 30 lakh on covering the site year after year for want of a permanent solution to the dump yard. Plans to cover the site on the lines of the Gorai dumping ground in Mumbai's western suburb has not moved forward for want of funds, with the government agencies, including the GSPCB, favouring segregation and carting away of the Sonsodo waste instead of capping.
