MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council’s ambitious plan to cart away the inert material from the Sonsodo legacy dump to an open area at the KTC bus stand ran into trouble after Fatorda police stopped the dumping following objections raised by an NGO.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Lyndon Pereira, who also present at the site, said the Municipality was only dumping inert generated from legacy dump remediation and not garbage.
Since the MMC could not produce documents for permission, the police told the MMC Chairperson to get the work stopped for the time being.
An estimated 15,000 cubic meters of inert has been lying at the Sonsodo site for want of disposal till date. The inert, generated during the remediation of the legacy dump, could not be disposed of from Sonsodo for want of space in and around the city.
Sources informed that the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) is responsible for the transportation of the inert from Sonsodo, but the responsibility lies on the Margao Civic body to identify suitable land, whether government or private, and obtain the necessary permissions.
Sources said newly-elected MMC Chairperson Lyndon Pereira called up GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins on Saturday evening after the Police had stopped the activity. Sources informed the GWMC Managing Director is believed to have advise the MMC Chairperson to obtain the NOC or permission from the land owner before the contractor could resumed work on the filling.
The Goan understands that the GWMC had written several letters and send reminders to the Margao Municipal Council over the last one year to identify suitable land for the inert disposal. Though the contractor had in the past disposed of the inert in and around the Old market, it is estimated that around 15,00 metric tons of the inert is still lying at Sonsodo.
Attempts made by the Director of Municipal Administration to get the inert disposed of opposite the Margao railway station had also come a cropper following objections raised by the farmers from Navelim and Aquem-Baixo.
