MARGAO
Margao municipal garbage trucks have resumed unloading waste at the Sonsodo waste management shed after the deployment of heavy machinery created space for the intake of daily fresh waste inside the treatment plant.
While MMC officials may heave a sigh of relief with the resumption of waste dumping at Sonsodo, the sordid episode has once again brought to the fore the oft-repeated question “ for how long will the Margao municipality go on dumping the daily waste inside the Sonsodo waste management shed when the rules mandate the civic body to treat the waste?
This question has indeed come back to haunt the municipal councillors and babus, besides the Powers that be controlling the Margao council with the civic body once again caught napping with no waste treatment worth its name taking place at Sonsodo.
Consider this, for an answer. Since the time Fomento Green had withdrawn from Sonsodo in 2020, the Margao Municipal Council has failed to treat even a single tonne of waste unloaded at the treatment plant. The Civic body has been dumping daily wet waste into the shed for the last three years, as a result of which the walls of the shed crumbled twice in the last one year.
The visit to Sonsodo by the Waste Management Minister Atanasio Monserrate last year raised hopes of the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) taking over the Sonsodo waste treatment, right from treating the daily waste to evolving a permanent solution to the imbroglio.
Sadly, it would be around 10 months now since the GWMC submitted detailed proposals to the Margao Municipal Council, right from roping in a contractor to treat the daily waste generated in the city to refurbishing the waste management shed, including the roads etc.
The estimates prepared by the GWMC were conveyed to the MMC, promising to take the process forward on condition the civic body obtains the necessary approvals from the government.
Take note, neither the MMC has roped in a private contractor to take up the work of garbage treatment nor has the waste management shed been refurbished to date. The less said the better over the state of the approach roads to the waste treatment plant.
That’s not it. The Sonsodo waste management shed is once again full to the brim with piled-up waste, throwing up a host of questions how come the civic body could not get its act together and obtain the government approvals to set in motion the process for the scientific treatment and management of the waste.
GWMC officials maintained that proposals prepared by the agency are all lying with the civic body, pointing out that the corporation cannot take forward the works till the civic body obtains the government approvals.
A senior MMC official told The Goan that the proposals sent to the government and the Director of Municipal Administration are still awaiting an official nod. “We had put up new proposals to the government for administrative approvals for work amounting to over Rs 14 crore. Sadly, the proposals are all pending with the government for the last 5-6 months,” remarked the civic official.
The official raised apprehensions that the situation at Sonsodo may further aggravate by next month if no concrete solution is found on the GWMC’s proposals by then.
Incidentally, with the government approvals not forthcoming on the GWMC’s proposals, the MMC had prepared estimates amounting to Rs 24 lakh to carry out repairs to the shed and to clean up the internal drains to plug the flow of leachate. Sadly, the proposal has to date not even been placed before the council meeting for approval.
Digambar's switch to BJP raised hopes of Sonsodo shed's revival
MARGAO
When Margao MLA Digambar Kamat embraced the ruling BJP on September 14, 2022, hopes were raised that waste management will be finally back on the tracks at Sonsodo.
For, Kamat started his new innings in the BJP on a positive note, descending at Sonsodo with Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) Managing Director Levinson Martins and civic officials to take stock of the situation and to work out solutions.
The Margao MLA mandated the team of GWMC and MMC officials to visit Sonsodo every fortnight to take a review and suggest remedial measures.
If sources are to be believed, the fortnightly visit to Sonsodo has not taken place in the New Year and neither has the Margao MLA got the government and the Director of Municipal Administration to accord approvals for the Sonsodo works to date.
Both GWMC and MMC officials pin hopes on the Margao MLA to use his influence with the ruling dispensation to facilitate the civic body to obtain the necessary permissions to pave way for floating the tender for the waste management works. “Since the civic body has failed in their attempts to get the necessary permission, it is now time for the Margao MLA to intervene and get Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to give the sanctions,” the official said.
The official feared that the situation at Sonsodo may aggravate in the coming months in the event the government approvals are not forthcoming, leaving the civic body with no option but to dump the fresh waste inside the shed.
“How can we put the waste treatment mechanism in place at Sonsodo when the necessary approvals are not forthcoming from the government,” questioned an official.
