MARGAO: Welcoming the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting held on Sonsoddo on Tuesday, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Wednesday said, “though belated, that the committee has started meeting is good as now a solution to the garbage problem of Margao can be arrived at.”
Pointing out that since the HPCC has usurped the powers of Margao Municipal Council as far as Sonsoddo is concerned, he said it was necessary for the committee to meet regularly and find a solution.
He disclosed that the chief minister has volunteered to negotiate with Fomento Green about handing over Sonsoddo to the authorities to tackle the garbage menace in the town.
Incidentally, Dr Pramod Sawant will be the fifth chief minister negotiating with Fomento Green over Sonsoddo. It started with Digambar Kamat initiating the talks and then Manohar Parrikar took over from whom Laxmikant Parsekar took over only to hand it back to Manohar Parrikar and now it is Dr Pramod Sawant.
Vijai said that the Solid Waste Management Corporation has also agreed to setting up the two bio-methanation or bio digester plants. The by-product of these plants is CNG which can be used in the municipal vehicles thus enabling MMC to get a green tag.
“These plants that are contained in a capsule can be set up in around 500 sq mts of land and MMC had proposed to set up two, one for Fatorda and the other for Margao,” he said adding that these plants are to deal with the mixed garbage found at the 35 dark spots identified already.
People from neighbouring villages that do not have garbage management system dump their garbage at these dark spots which are basically mixed garbage. This is not only an eyesore but also cause stink if not dealt with regularly.
“Now the Solid Waste Management Corporation wants to set up a third plant on its own primarily for Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco to deal with garbage from his constituency and we welcome this,” Vijai said disclosing that some officials will be visiting Delhi to see how the plant works there.
Vijai also stressed the need to decide about what happens once Fomento Green departs from Sonsodo. “It is the general opinion that the technology they were using is obsolete and no longer in use and hence we have to plan right now as to what technology we shall be using and start adapting to it,” he said.
Vijai said that he also welcomed the decision to start bioremediation of the existing dump at Sonsoddo by the Solid Waste Management Corporation.
“In fact, when I was a minister with then chief minister late Manohar Parrikar’s help, we had started this process and shown results in Sonsoddo,” he said.
