the goan I network
MARGAO
The South Goa district authorities is racing against time to get the municipal and panchayat bodies comply with the solid waste management rules, with the one-year deadline set by the NGT nearing to a close early next year.
District Collector, Ajit Roy, however, said that it will take some time to implement the NGT directions in both letter and spirit, saying that South Goa will soon see a network of waste management sites in both rural and urban areas.
Briefing the media after taking a fortnightly review of the progress made in implementing the NGT directions, Roy said the brief before him is to ensure that the NGT directions to the local urban and local bodies to go for 100 per cent door-to-door waste collection and scientific disposal of dry and wet waste are implemented in toto. “I have been monitoring the progress of implementation of the NGT directions with the Chief Officers of Municipal Councils and the Block Development Officers over the last six months. There are many steps involved in the process and we have made some progress. A number of waste management sites have been identified and the process of installing wet waste bio-digesters are in the pipeline,” he added.
Saying that it will take some time for these measures to take concrete shape, Roy, however, exuded confidence that a network of waste management sites in the South Goa district will soon become a reality.
On directions issued by the High Court to set up facility for disposal of bio-medical waste in a time bound manner, the district Collector clarified that disposal of bio-medical waste is not the responsibility of the State, but the generators of the waste as per the laid down guidelines.
He, however, said the district authorities have issued notices to the private health clinics, hospitals as well government hospitals, adding that his office has shared the list of clinics and hospitals with the Goa State Pollution Control Board for further action.
To a query that waste disposal sites identified by the panchayats have not found favour with the GSPCB, the district Collector asserted that sites shortlisted by the panchayat bodies should conform to the specifications. He, however, said there’s a lot of improvement on the ground though the authorities have to cover lot of ground.
