MARGAO
Will the meeting of the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant help avert another High Court deadline being missed by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) after the failure to set up the firefighting mechanism at Sonsodo “ this time on the question of remediation of the piled-up waste inside the Sonsodo waste management shed?
This question has come to the fore following a standoff between the Margao civic body and the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) over adopting the technology to clear the piled-up waste.
For, the GSUDA has not given the technical and administrative nod for the Margao civic body to float a tender amounting to Rs 2 crore for the remediation of the piled-up waste and the transportation of the RDF to the cement factories in neighbouring Karnataka.
Resultantly, it is feared that MMC’s undertaking given in the High Court in the form of an Action Plan to remediate the piled-up waste by September may go haywire. The Margao civic body had given an undertaking to the High Court that it will remediate and clear the piled-up waste inside the Sonsodo shed by September this year.
MMC’s ambitious project to remediate the waste at an estimated cost of Rs two crore has so far not found favour with GSUDA officials.
In fact, the civic officials in private said that GSUDA has returned the proposal to the Margao Municipal Council pointing out that the civic body can clear the piled-up waste with alternate technology and much lower cost.
The Goan understands that the civic body has written back to the GSUDA to provide details of the alternate technology to place the proposal before the High Court at the next date of hearing.
Civic officials in private pointed out that since Sonsodo has come under the High Court scanner, they have asked GSUDA to give in writing why the remediation technology is not suited to treat the piled-up waste.
“We will place the GSUDA proposal before the High Court for necessary action,” the official said.
With the MMC losing one month with the proposal to remediate the piled-up waste failing to take off for want of GSUDA nod, civic officials say it will not be possible to stick to the September deadline and clear the piled-up waste.
“Right now, we are in a confused state. On one hand, we had submitted our Action Plan to the High Court to complete the remediation of the piled-up waste by September. On the other hand, our proposal for the remediation of the waste has not found favour with GSUDA. Already one month is lost and it will certainly delay the remediation of the piled-up waste,” the MMC official remarked, adding “Given the prevailing circumstances, the civic body may be forced to seek a fresh deadline from the court.”
As per rough estimates prepared by the civic body, around 10,000 metric tonnes of waste has piled up inside the Sonsodo waste management shed. The work includes remediation of the piled-up waste and transportation of the RDF to the cement factories in Karnataka.
Incidentally, this is the third time that waste piled up inside the waste management shed will be taken up for remediation. While the work on the two previous occasions was taken up by the Goa Waste Management Corporation, this is the first time that the civic body has come forward to rope in an agency to carry out the remediation.
