the goan I network
MARGAO
In a bid to find a solution to the Sonsodo imbroglio, the government has arranged a joint inspection of the dump yard on September 26, as Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo with senior officials in tow are expected to descend on the site.
All the three local MLAs, Margao MLA and Leader of the Opposition, Digambar Kamat, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, besides MMC elected representatives and officers, and officials of Fomento have all been invited for the joint inspection.
The joint inspection will come days after the Waste Management Minister, during his visit to Fatorda a week ago, had announced government’s plan to hold an inspection of the Sonsodo before taking a call on the ground situation.
The inspection will also assume significance and will come against the backdrop of court hearing scheduled in the district court four days later, on September 30.
While Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Waste Management Minister Lobo have announced that the Corporation would shoulder the responsibility of taking over the Sonsodo site if handed over by the MMC, the government is also aware of the fact that the district court has stayed the civic body from taking any coercive steps to dispose Fomento of the waste treatment plant.
Joint inspection of the Sonsodo dump yard also comes at a time when there’s a war of words between the Waste Management Minister and the Fatorda MLA and the Margao Municipal Council.
While Lobo had pointed out that the MMC ought to be more positive in its approach towards solving the burning issue, the Fatorda MLA had asked the Minister to take care of the dengue scare in his home constituency. That’s not all. MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai had gone to the extent of saying that Lobo should do well to tackle drugs and sex rackets in Calangute constituency, saying these illegal activities had brought bad name for tourism in Goa.Containerised plants: Corporation
says not responsible for delay
MARGAO: Goa Waste Management Corporation has asserted that the Corporation cannot be blamed for the delay in according technical sanction to Margao Municipal Council’s proposal to set up two containerised waste treatment plants in the city.
Saying that the civic body had mooted a proposal, putting the estimated cost of each plant to Rs 16 lakh, when it ought to have been around Rs 2 crore, a senior corporation official said the proposal was returned back to the municipality after the discrepancy had come to light. “It was only after the discrepancy over the estimate had come to light that the proposal was returned back to the civic body,” the official said, adding that the corporation is now in receipt of the proposal with the estimated cost of the proposal showing Rs 1.99 crore.
Sources in the corporation further said the MMC’s containerised waste treatment plants proposal is under study, adding that the MMC will be required to obtain consent from the Goa State Pollution Control Board, first to establish the plants and then to operate.
