MARGAO
The Sonsodo waste treatment plant is craving attention from the Margao Municipal Council babus and engineers as it has virtually reached a state of saturation.
If the Goa Waste Management Corporation contractor had cleared the Sonsodo plant of the accumulated 4000 tonnes of waste, it is again on the verge of saturation with hundreds, if not thousands of tonnes of waste, lying inside.
What’s interesting to note is that the plant is yet again filled with waste when the contractor is yet to be cleared of his bill amounting to Rs 85 lakh for transporting the waste from the plant and remediating it.
A visit to the waste treatment plant on Monday revealed the worst scenario. A mountain of waste is lying inside the plant awaiting treatment.
A heavy-duty crane is lying idle for want of repairs and maintenance, even as the MMC had recently repaired another crane inside the plant.
Inquiries have revealed that the trommels and other machinery housed inside the plant is not in running condition, thus affecting the day-to-day treatment of the waste via the windrow method.
MMC officials in the know told The Goan that things are going from bad to worse at the plant for want of serious attention from the MMC babus, including the engineers.
“Most of the issues affecting the plant are technical in nature. Though the MMC employs a battery of engineers headed by a municipal engineer, it is not enough to take care of the technical aspects. The civic body needs to have in place a full-fledged technical section,” sources said.
The MMC had been following a system, wherein municipal engineers have been entrusted the responsibility of looking after the waste treatment plant on a rotation basis. “This rotation system has cost the plant dearly for want of dedication and commitment from the engineers to ensure efficient operation of the waste treatment facility,” remarked an official.
That’s not all. It’s now exactly 10 months since Sociedade de Fomento had withdrawn from Sonsodo after handing over the plant to the Margao civic body.
Believe it or not, the civic body has not even got the power and water connections transferred in the name of the MMC for want of regular follow up with the Power and PWD departments.
The Goan further understands that the Margao civic body has to date not cleared the payments to the contract workers for the last three months.
Sources in the know informed that the bills have all been pending for reasons best known to the MMC technical section. Sources in the know said the workers have still not gone on strike as the contractor is believed to have cleared the wages so far.
An official in the know informed that the MMC officials should be hauled up for not ensuring timely repairs and maintenance of the waste treatment machinery.
“When the civic body had managed to get the accumulated waste out of the plant a couple of months ago at a cost of Rs 85 lakh, how can the municipal officials allow the waste accumulation inside the plant once again and right under their very nose,” remarked an official in tie know while terming the attitude of the civic babus as criminal negligence leading to waste of taxpayers’ money.
