MARGAO
Is Sonsodo not on the priority list of the Margao Municipal Council? Is the civic body of the view that it’s not viable to place bets for revival of the Sonsodo waste treatment plant? Or, is the Margao Municipality looking out for an alternate means of treating more than 20-25 tonnes of wet waste generated in the commercial capital?
Apathy and neglect from the civic body has thrown up these questions as there’s no turn around at Sonsodo since the time Fomento quit the site and handed over the plant and machinery to the Margao Municipal Council.
Otherwise, consider this. The Sonsodo waste treatment plant is craving for attention. Waste is piling up by the day inside the plant for want of any treatment worth its name. Heavy machinery is being deployed to push the mound inside the plant to make space for daily waste.
The heavy duty crane is giving nightmares to the personnel manning the plant with frequent breakdowns. No doubt, the MMC has gone in for an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) with a company, but the crane is in need of repairs, which is expected to cost the civic body around Rs six lakh.
The roof of the shed housing the waste treatment plant needs to be repaired. The roof sheets blown away by Cyclone Tauktae over a month and half ago, has not been replaced till date.
With the monsoons in full force, rain water gushes into the treatment plant, before it gets mixed with the leachate generated inside the plant.
The leachate tank built in between the plant and the landfill site, sources said, is full and overflowing into the drains around the plant, emanating foul odour. Workers said the tanks get filled as the leachate generated inside the plant mixes with rain water, entering the shed through the roof.
The scene around the waste treatment plant is no better. In fact, the entire place has turned into an eye sore for want of attention from the civic body.
The road leading to the entrance of the waste treatment plant has turned slippery and bumpy for lack of maintenance. MMC workers driving the garbage trucks have been complaining of bad road conditions, but the repairs are yet to take place. It was only recently that the civic body got the government sanction to repair the road leading to the treatment plant.
Goa Waste Management Corporation MD Levinson Martins has said the MMC should run the treatment plant till an alternative is found to the burning issue. “The GWMC had even deputed an engineer to guide the civic workers to run the plant last year. If the MMC thinks it cannot run the plant, the civic body should float an Expression of Interest inviting parties to run the plant till an alternative is found at Sonsodo”, Martins added.
Incidentally, the 5TPD bio-methanation plant proposed by the MMC at the SGPDA market is taking shape, but a burning question is staring at the city fathers and babus -- whether the civic body has any plan in place to resolve the 20-25 tonnes of wet waste generated in the city?
Leachate from the plant side. 
Dilapidated condition of the road leading to waste treatment plant.
A year later, MMC yet to transfer
power & water bills in its name
MARGAO: This may seem strange, but it only highlights the apathy and indifference of the Margao Municipal Council when it comes to Sonsodo.
It’s now over a year since Fomento quit Sonsodo, handing over the waste treatment plant to the Margao Municipal Council. Believe it or not, the civic body is yet to transfer the electricity as well as the water connections in its name till date.
It’s not that the civic body is unaware of the ground reality that the power and water bills still come in the name of Fomento. For, around seven months ago, Margao Municipal Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes had put up a note to the Municipal engineer to follow it up and get the water and electric connections transferred in the name of the civic body.
Sadly, the ground reality remains unchanged. Bills still come in the name of Fomento, which are then forwarded to the civic body.
When contacted, the Chief Officer said he would take up the matter with the Municipal engineer on priority.
MMC in deep muck over
funds for clearing waste
MARGAO: Even as a mound of garbage is taking shape inside the waste treatment plant for want of treatment, questions are being raised who will lift and cart away the waste stacked inside the plant.
For, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) contractor, who was roped in by the Civic body last year, to cart away hundreds of tonnes of waste from the plant, is yet to be paid the fees amounting to a whopping Rs 80-odd lakh.
The GWMC contractor had taken up the job of carting away the waste stacked inside the plant and remediate the same on the orders of the civic body. Sadly, while the contractor had executed the job at the behest of the civic body, the huge payment is yet to be made, creating a peculiar situation wherein the civic body will have to allot funds to cart away the existing waste piling up inside the plant even before the contractor is cleared of the job executed last year.
Tarpaulin of no help as leachate
finds way out into nearby drains
MARGAO: Covering of the Sonsodo legacy dump has not helped much to contain the leachate flowing from the site into the adjoining drains.
If the leachate flowing from the waste treatment side is not enough, leachate continues to give nightmares to the Margao Municipal Council and the neighbouring residents.
No doubt, the GWMC had covered the site with tarpaulin, but a portion was found open since the corporation was trying to transport as many trucks of RDF as possible to the cement factories in Karnataka.
GWMC MD Levinson Martins said leachate is bound to flow from the site since the waste dump is located on a slope. He, however, said the GWMC will try and cover the dump wherever required to stop the leachate flow into the storm water drains.
