Seen in this frame clicked on Monday is a mound of waste at the Sonsodo treatment plant. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO: Margao Municipal Council could earn the dubious distinction of being a civic body stacking its daily garbage at the Sonsodo treatment plant instead of treating it daily.
The weekend again gave some anxious moments for the Municipal Council officials who manage the solid waste at Sonsodo when the plant almost reached a point of saturation. Deployment of machinery helped in making space inside the plant and tide over the problem, but the moot points remain unanswered “ for how long will the civic body continue to stack the daily waste inside the plant when a permanent solution to handle the solid waste is the need of the hour.
Consider this. On July 9 last, the Margao Municipal Council had adopted a resolution to float an Expression of Interest (EoI) to rope in a contractor to treat the daily waste at the Sonsodo plant. By the same resolution, the Council had resolved to cart away the existing waste stacked inside and free the plant of the existing waste. The Council had further resolved to procure five garbage compactors and as many as tipper trucks for the solid waste management work.
A month and half down the line, there’s no perceptible change on the ground at the waste treatment plant or the logistics for that matter. The Margao Municipal Council has called for a meeting later this week, but the decisions and resolutions adopted at the previous meeting to tone up the solid waste management are yet to be implemented.
Inquiries have only revealed that after much delay, the Margao civic body had forwarded a written request to the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) Gurudas Pilarnekar seeking administrative approval for the utilization of the 14th Finance Commission funds in order to appoint a private contractor for the purpose of treating the daily waste and also to rope in an agency to cart away the existing waste from the plant and remediate the same.
MMC officials pointed out that the civic body has been waiting for the DMA administrative nod to the council which if given will authorize the civic body to utilize the funds under the 14th Finance Commission for the two major projects, but that’s still not to be.
On issuance of floating an Expression of Interest (EoI) for handling the solid waste management at Sonsodo, DMA Gurudas Pilarnekar said the decision rests with the civic body. “I have already told the civic officials that they should complete the technical procedure and then approach the DMA’s office for approval. Granting approval for the projects under 14th Finance Commission is not an issue. Let them first float the EoI and then come for the administrative nod”, Pilarnekar said.
An MMC official said this may further delay the process to engage a contractor to run the waste treatment plant and cart away the existing waste.
