the goan I network
MARGAO
All eyes are focused on the much-awaited meeting of the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant scheduled on Tuesday which is expected to discuss the entire gamut of issues plaguing Sonsodo.
The Margao Municipal Council is hoping that the HPCC meeting will work out a solution to the vexed garbage issue, including a solution to the legal battle with Fomento over the payment of termination amount to the company. At the last date of hearing, the MMC had virtually given an undertaking to the South Goa district Court to give the civic body two months time to work out a solution to the dispute with Fomento, pinning hopes on the Chief Minister-headed HPCC to bail the municipality from the present situation.
In the past, the Chief Minister had announced that the government would intervene in the ongoing legal dispute between MMC and Fomento over the payment issue by moving an intervention application in the district court, but in vain.
The Chief Minister as well as the Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo had on several occasions taken a stand that the government is not averse to taking over the Sonsodo site to set up an upgraded waste treatment plant, after the legal dispute is resolved amongst the two parties.
This is the first HPCC meeting conveyed by the Chief Minister after a gap of nearly four months and is expected to be attended by the three MLAs, Vijai Sardesai, Digambar Kamat and Reginaldo Lourenco, besides MMC officials and officials of the Director of Municipal Administration.
The HPCC meeting also assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the recent High Court order barring the MMC from open dumping of waste at Sonsodo, leaving the civic body in a tight situation in respect to segregation of waste at the black spots.
The MMC may also look forward to the meeting to address the issue of land belonging to government departments such as health, PDA, KR to set up temporary dry waste baling machines in a bid to decentralise the baling process.
Asked to outline his expectations from the HPCC since he had been demanding the meeting for some time now, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said he expects the government to work out both short term and long term solutions to the Sonsodo imbroglio.
“The government has been doing a lot of talking on Sonsodo in recent times. The time has now come for the government to walk the talk and bring about a change in the ground situation,” Sardesai added.
Meanwhile, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat has hoped that the government would work out a solution to Sonsodo keeping in mind the legal battle between the Margao Municipal Council and Fomento. “Let us wait and see whether the government has any action plan in place for Sonsodo,” he added. Shot down by GWMC, will MMC’s containerised WTP find favour with the CM-headed panel?
MARGAO: Will Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai and his ruling Margao Municipal Council take up the issue of the containerised waste treatment plants before the CM-headed HPCC since the proposal has not found favour with the Goa Waste Management Corporation?
While the GWMC has rejected the MMC proposal to set up two containerised waste treatment plants to treat the city’s mixed waste at a cost of Rs four crore on grounds that these plants do not conform to the state policy on garbage treatment, the Fatorda MLA and the MMC have not given up hopes that the containerised plants may be the answer to the city’s mixed waste.
Sources in the know said that with the High Court barring open dumping of waste at Sonsodo and with mixed waste flowing into the city from neighbouring villages, the Fatorda MLA and the MMC are of the firm view that only the containerised waste treatment plants may be the answer to the mixed waste issue.
