the goan I network
MARGAO
As the ongoing operation to clear the Sonsodo waste treatment plant of the 1000-ton waste rejects is underway since the last four days, the Margao Municipal Council is being faced with a simple question “ can the civic body supply only segregated waste to the waste treatment plant once Fomento throws open the plant for segregated waste?
The ongoing operation to clear the plant of the waste rejects is one aspect of the entire episode and the Margao Municipality will have to answer the question whether the civic body can supply segregated waste to the waste treatment plant as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The ground reality does not inspire confidence in this regard going by the events of the last four days when the transfer stations and the markets played host to mounds of unsegregated and mixed waste, exposing the civic body hollow on its claims on waste segregation and indicating that all appears not well with the Municipal waste segregation exercise.
In fact, more than half a decade after the municipality embarked on the ambitious waste segregation project with support from Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA), waste segregation is still a far cry in the city. While the fate of the thousands of bins supplied to the 25,000 households around five years ago remains unknown, questions are being raised in the corridors of the civic body whether MMC’s decision to outsource door-to-door waste collection in the 11 municipal wards coming under Fatorda have helped segregate waste generated in the households. And, whether in the absence of a contractor to lift waste from the doorsteps of the people in a segregated manner, the civic body can expect to supply segregated waste to the waste treatment plant.
The ground reality, however, does not inspire confidence in the claims made by the civic body that it has succeeded in segregating the waste generated in the city, whether in Fatorda or Margao.
While Margao Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai had gone on record, stating that waste segregation, especially Fatorda had crossed 40 per cent, the civic body will indeed face a testing time when Fomento starts accepting segregated waste at the plant.
The dumping of unsegregated waste on road sides, market places as well as transfer stations over the last three days has only thrown up a debatable question whether segregation of waste is a norm or an exception in the city. And, the Margao municipality will have to answer Madgavkars whether the lakhs of rupees of tax payers money spent on waste segregation has evoked positive results till date or whether the civic body has failed to crack a whip on those entrusted with the task of collecting segregated waste for better results.
