MARGAO
Thanks to the High Court bench comprising of Justice Mahesh Sonak and Justice Bharat Deshpande, Sonsodo may be finally rid of the mound of bio-medical waste, including sanitary napkins and diapers taking shape at the site.
Tonnes of sanitary diapers and napkins, stacked in bags, have taken the shape of a mound at Sonsodo over the last couple of months. In fact, The Goan had on September 21 highlighted how the bio-medical waste dump is taking shape at Sonsodo for want of action by the Margao civic body.
Reason: The Kundaim-based company had refused to lift the sanitary waste from Sonsodo on the plea that the Margao Municipality had failed to clear the dues amounting close to Rs 30 lakh for disposing of sanitary waste in the recent past.
The issue was brought to the notice of the Court after Adv Norma Alvares placed on record photographs, referring to stacks of biomedical waste dumped at the site.
When the Advocate General submitted that the biomedical waste is required to be transferred to the Kundaim site for treatment immediately, the Judges said biomedical waste has to be treated on a priority basis at the designated sites, otherwise, this could be a source of health hazards, further stating that such waste cannot be kept lying unattended at Sonsodo.
When the Margao Municipal lawyer, Padiyar stated that bio-medical waste will be dispatched latest by October 21 to the Kundaim site for treatment, the Court accepted the statement with a direction that the MMC should comply with this statement. “Even in future, the MMC should immediately dispatch biomedical waste to the designated site at Kundaim. In fact, this exercise must be carried out as far as possible on day-to-day basis in future,” the Court asserted.
