DR. JOE D’SOUZA
The political class has used garbage mismanagement as an opportunity to neatly pocket large amounts of public monies thus transforming adversities and disasters into an opportunity to make big bucks for themselves. It is high time for Goans to understand that the bureaucrats and the politicians do not want to resolve the garbage gauntlet as today investments in treatment of garbage is a “milking cow” for those involved in the governance of Goa.
People fail to realize that Sonsodo is not a secure and scientific land fill but a hazardous dump emanating toxic leachates and foul gases. The essence of any successful solid waste management facility is the proper collection of the wastes generated in a scientific segregated
manner.
The second aspect is to safely transport the waste safely to sorting centres, where the garbage is properly sorted into the various components. For instance, what we wrongly term as dry wastes, consists of various items, such as rags, cotton as well as synthetic linens, shoes (both leather as well of synthetic foams - laced with toxic pigments), pesticide residues, glass, cordage and synthetic fibers, batteries, e-wastes, tins, cardboard packing materials, syringes, aluminum foils, tetra pack containers, plastic as well as broken glass bottles, soiled paper napkins - used both by the hospitals, hotels and infectious towels used to blow nose, clean hands, paper plates lined with organic matter used to pack food, fish, etc., tins containing paints, bags containing construction debris, coconut shells, shells of clams, ceramics and hundreds of household items not mentioned above which are all very divergent chemically, but important in the process of dry waste segregation.
Dry medical wastes like used glass or plastic syringes, absorbent cottons, blades, needles, essentials are hazardous medical wastes. Similarly e-wastes, glass, plastic, metals, batteries etc. have to be collected and sorted out exclusively.
During my site visit at Sonsodo, I pointed out to journalists and officials alike that in on day alone, over 40 tonnes of unsegregated solid wastes, consisting of mixed market wastes, medical wastes, sanitary pads diapers, glass pieces, along with all of the above mentioned were thoroughly mixed, and crushed under the JCB machines, hazardously homogenized with pesticides, paints, dead cats, dogs and other strays.
Today, over one lakh tonnes of toxic unsegregated wastes is dumped at Sonsodo and the quarry which was over 35 meters below ground level in 1994 today stands tall towering dangerously 25 meters above the ground level. If a garbage slide occurs, it would be manmade disaster in the making. We know historically over that last two decades, that every garbage treatment facility has ghost workers, huge bills in garbage transportation, wherein contractors share the money with the political and bureaucratic class as bills are endless and unending. As such the Sonsoddo garbage fire adversity has resulted in over Rs 2 crores of opportunity for those in garbage management to siphon off in terms of costs of labour and machinery, ghost manpower, chemicals out station experts fees and supplementary costs.
Where is the Goemkarponn today in Goa, as consultants, service and maintenance is all out-sourced. The Goan experts do not help our political class to milk the taxpayer by proposing fake enzyme technology and commission generating machinery to help fill the pockets of the politician-bureaucratic nexus.
The people of Goa in general and those living in Curtorim, Margao and around particularly do not wish to take the bull by the horns. It is not merely the siphoning of funds which actually worries me but the deleterious effects of Goans dying like poisoned rats as a consequence of dust, smoke, polluted soils and water.
It is slow but sure “ PM2.5 and PM10 are dangerously high around unscientific garbage dumping sites enough to promote respiratory infections, cancers and skin infections. Our water bodies, wells, rivers, ponds all are polluted with heavy metals enough of pollutants that will activate kidney failures, physiological distress, cancers of stomach pancreas, blood, etc., as our body functions as a mega factory manufacturing muscles, blood, fluids, bones, organs and pollutants disrupt the normal downstream process and cause cancers.
Margao garbage pollution has reached upto River Sal and in Panjim River Mandovi is distressingly polluted, killing and biomagnifying pollutants in our marine resources. It is intriguing as to why Goans at large and the residents around a radius 5 km of Sonsoddo at the least, if not 10km vicinity are not suing those in government for criminal neglect and negligence.
Do we realize the resistance of an average Goan is sharply declining and making us prone and susceptible to diseases and also weakening our immune responses? Also, microbial resistance to drugs and antibiotics is increasing sharply in Goa. Doctors prescribe drugs as morbidity and infections are rising and as a package deal, microorganisms too become resistant as the drugs are increasing in levels in the Goan environment.
How many Goans are now aware that the increase in the levels of drug resistance in Goa must not be taken lightly by resident Goans as now, more and more Goans would die because the microbes infecting Goans due to growing pollution and morbidity would not have any medicines or drugs left for the doctors to prescribe, as microbes in Goa are today both resistant or combative to the drugs, freely and easily used by patients or prescribed by the doctors in Goa. How many of us are aware that the cascading or the ripple effect of pollution and garbage mismanagement is drug resistance. As Goans we should not allow what is happening or has happened at Sonsodo or Saligao waste management facilities as routine and nothing alarming.
A scientific SWM plant for South Goa garbage is a must. It is a birth right let not politicians and out station consultants fool us as Mother Nature would act ferociously against us the lazy Goans who have failed miserably to treat Mother Goa respectfully.
