MARGAO
The Forest Department, along with the Department of Urban Development, appears all set to launch the Urban Forest scheme at the Sonsodo waste dump on June 5, coinciding with World Environment Day.
Though the Margao Municipal officials had initially expressed their reservations about the Urban Forest scheme at Sonsodo, sources said the Forest department has been told to restrict the planting of trees along the periphery of the waste management site to ensure that the project does not come in the way of setting up a waste management plant.
Indications that the MMC has given the go-ahead signal to the Forest department to launch the Urban Forest scheme from Sonsodo became evident on Monday when officials of the Forest and Margao Municipal Council descended at the site to give final touches to the project.
A JCB was pressed into service to level the ground around the periphery of the waste management site so that the trees act as a buffer zone between the site and the main Curtorim-Margao road.
A senior MMC official informed that the civic body has made it very clear to the Forest department to plant the trees all around the boundary of the waste management site.
“Our stand is very clear that since the legacy dump has been cleared of the waste to reuse the land for waste treatment, the space should be left for future development on the waste treatment front,” the civic official informed.
He further said the Forest department has agreed to the stand adopted by the civic body, pointing out that no trees should be planted across the waste management site, but only along the boundary.
