MARGAO
With the Margao Municipal Council’s inept handling of the day-to-day waste generated in the commercial capital coming under the High Court scanner, the civic body has mulled a slew of garbage-related projects at Sonsodo estimated at a whopping over Rs 5 crore.
In fact, come March 28, and the Margao councillors will meet in the Council hall at a special meeting to deliberate on a host of waste management issues and to give nod for the road map at Sonsodo. The road map will then be submitted to the High Court as the Chief Officer is mandated to file a compliance report to the Court on April 10.
In the list of works proposed at Sonsodo, includes the remediation of the existing waste piled up inside the waste management shed. This is the third time in two years that the piled up waste is proposed to be carted out from the shed and remediated. Unlike the previous two occasions, however, when the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) had executed the job through its contractor, this time, the MMC will take a decision at the special meeting to take up the work by floating a tender at a cost of Rs 2.03 crore.
A glance at the MMC proposal gives some insight into the handling of waste generated in the commercial capital. The proposal says that the civic body is collecting around 35 tonnes of wet waste and 15 tonnes of dry waste from all wards of the Municipal jurisdiction. The dry waste pegged around 15 tonnes is segregated and baled into RDF and transported to cement factories at Karnataka for disposal. On the other hand, out of the 35 tonnes of wet waste generated in the city, the MMC has for the first time officially acknowledged that around 10TPD of waste is transported to the Saligao Treatment Plant for its treatment, while around 5TPD of wet waste is treated at SGPDA bio-methanation plant.
With the balance 10TPD of wet waste unloaded inside the Sonsodo waste management shed without any treatment worth its name, the MMC has now proposed an action plan for the disposal of this waste through windrow composting.
The MMC proposal states that with the Sonsodo waste management shed almost 80 per cent full with legacy wet waste, the windrow composting can take off only if the shed is cleared of the wet waste. And, to clear the shed of the piled up wet waste, the Council has prepared estimates amounting to Rs 2.03 crore to dispose of the waste and remediate the same. This operation, the proposal says, may take around six months for completion, starting with the civic body adopting a resolution by March-end to the tendering of the project after obtaining sanctions from the Director of Municipal Administration.
Since around six-month time is required for the remediation and disposal of the existing piled up waste from the Sonsodo shed, the MMC has proposed alternate arrangement for the treatment of the wet waste.
The civic body has mulled construction of a platform admeasuring around 1800 square metres for composting of waste on the eastern and western side of the Sonsodo shed.
The MMC proposal includes establishment of an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETF) at the Sonsodo site. The civic body, however, has proposed to request the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) to establish the ETP at the earliest.
Proposed action plan
- Disposal of 15TPD of dry waste at Sonsodo and MRF at Nessai Industrial Estate
- Disposal of 10TPD of wet waste transported to the Saligao plant on daily basis
- Disposal of 5TPD of wet waste to the bio-methanation plant at SGPDA market
- Construction of leachate collection tank with drainage system, PVC tank, plinth side walls and tarring of road besides MSV shed at Sonsodo
- Construction of composting platform for windrow composting on the western sides of the Sonsodo shed
- Repair and construction of eastern side plinth wall and construction of drainage system with platform for windrow composting at Sonsodo
- Construction of shed over the concrete platform on the western side of the Sonsodo shed
- Declare bulk waste generators and issue directions to these waste generators to treat their waste on their own
