MARGAO
That brings the moot question whether Fomento Green can spare its landfill site for the bioremediation project. The answer again is a firm no, with Fomento Green CEO Sridhar Kamat making amply clear that the its landfill site under construction at Sonsodo is part and parcel of the waste treatment plant and cannot be spared for the bioremediation project.
With Fomento Green expressing its inability to spare the landfill site for the bioremediation project, another question arises whether the Margao Municipal Council make available land at Sonsodo admeasuring 5000 square metres to set up the land fill site. MMC Chief Officer Y B Tawde answered in the negative.
The question that arises now is how would the three MLAs “ Digambar Kamat, Vijai Sardesai and Reginaldo Lourenco “ and other members of the sub-committee on Sonsodo expect the High Powered Coordination Committee headed by Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar, to arrange the much-needed land at the waste dumping site, without which the bioremediation project cannot take shape.
GSUDA Project Director, Jagdish Hosmani, made it very clear to The Goan that the bioremediation project at Sonsodo can become a reality only and on the condition that the landfill site is made available. “A landfill site is necessary before bio-remediation gets underway. I had offered a suggestion to the MMC sub-committee to explore the possibility whether Fomento Green can spare its landfill site for the project. If my suggestion finds favour with Fomento Green, work on the project can get underway immediately and at the same time we can construct an alternate landfill site at the existing site which can also be used by Fomento Green,” Hosmani said.
Hosmani’s suggestion, however, has not found favour with Fomento Green CEO Sridhar Kamat. “Where is the question of sparing our landfill site for the bioremediation project when it is being constructed as per the concession agreement to treat the inert waste generated by the waste treatment plant,” Sridhar said.
Moreover, he pointed out that the landfill site under construction at Sonsodo is approximately around 2000 square metres in size, contrary to the requirement of 5000 square metres. That’s not all. He said that work on the landfill site, costing Rs two crore, will be complete in three-four months.
CO Y B Tawde told The Goan that the civic body has its own land admeasuring 30,000 square metres opposite Sonsodo, but it has not found favour with the powers that be. “Besides the acquired land of 30,000 square metres, MMC has no other land which can be utilized to construct a landfill site,” Tawde added. Questions are raised in the corridors of the civic body how members of the sub-committee, including the three MLAs, can now expect the HPCC to work out a solution, when the panel has failed to address the question of a landfill site for the bioremediation project. Many an eyebrow has been raised in the civic body over the sub-committee’s decision to seek intervention of the HPCC, with questions raised whether the decision to knock the government’s door is an attempt to pass on the buck to the HPCC.
