MARGAO
Cyclone Tauktae has ripped open the shed of the Sonsodo garbage treatment plant after the squalling winds left the roof damaged, with rain water gushing inside the plant since the last three days.
The incident has come as an eye opener and a wake up call for the Margao Municipal babus to act and put the maintenance of the plant, machinery and shed in place before the situation goes out of hand.
Repairs and replacement of the damaged roof sheets is not the work pending at the Sonsodo garbage treatment plant. The trommel has been waiting for repairs and maintenance for the last several months, while the heavy duty crane often breaks down bringing all operations at the plant to a halt.
The approach road to the waste treatment plant has not been repaired till date. Garbage workers and truck drivers fear a scenario wherein trucks may not be in a position to unload the daily waste at the plant for want of a smooth access road.
Sources in the MMC said the immediate task before the civic body is to take a call whether to repair the roof of the shed which has been damaged by the strong cyclonic winds. This question assumes significance given that the monsoons are just a fortnight away and the MMC will have to bank on the garbage treatment plant for the disposal of the daily waste generated in the city at least till the monsoons.
Officials in the know fear that the plant shed, which has been ripped open at a couple of places, may even cave in if protected measures are not initiated by the civic body on priority at least to save the shed from crumbling. “We do not rule out the possibility of more roof sheets being blown away by the winds during the ensuing monsoons, unless the civic body steps in and repair and contain further damage,” remarked an official.
Officials in the know are surprised over the very attitude of the civic body towards the repairs and maintenance of the Sonsodo waste treatment plant. Ever since Fomento Green had quit the site by handing over the waste treatment plan to the Margao Municipal Council, no major repairs and maintenance of the plant has been carried out till date.
“The civic body just unloads the waste inside the plant and the same is pushed inside the shed by the crane. When the crane develops a technical snag, the waste is left to turn into a mound inside,” he said.
That the civic body has not devoted much attention on the maintenance of the waste treatment plant is evident by the fact that the trommel is not been repaired till date, questioning the very waste treatment plant process adopted by the civic body at the site.
