GOA HAS NO SWM POLICY YET SAYS SC STOP ORDER DOESN’T APPLY

Avinash Tavares

The Herald report of the fact that the Supreme Court’s judgment on the ban on construction had been refuted but at the same time the Supreme Court has stressed on framing of the Solid Waste Management Policy by the State. Herald has further investigated the matter to find out whether Goa indeed had complied with the Supreme Court Order.

Has Goa prepared the Solid Waste Management Policy?

The State does not have a solid waste management policy as demanded by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had expected all the states to implement Clause 23 of the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. The clause states that every department in charge of local bodies of the State shall constitute a State Level Advisory Board and the Board has to meet at least once in every six months to review the matters related to implementation of these rules, State policy and strategy policy and strategy on solid waste management and give advice to State Government for taking measures that are necessary for expeditious and appropriate implementation of these rules.

The Goa government had constituted SLAB in March 2017 and since then they have met thrice. In the first meeting, Sanjeet Rodrigues, the Director of Goa Waste Management Corporation stated that he would appoint a consultant to prepare the policy. In the third meeting was held last Tuesday, the status of the policy was discussed and it was revealed that the policy formulation is still under way. Rodrigues had also made it clear that the process for creating the policy will take at least a year.

What has the State submitted?

In its submission to the Supreme Court the State government stated that “in so far as preparation of Solid Waste Management Policy and Strategy is concerned, the State of Goa continues to follow and implement the Action  Plan for Integrated Solid Waste Management in the State of Goa that was submitted by the State of Goa before the Principle Bench of NGT in 2014, which was further revised in terms of Solid Waste Rules 2016 and was filed before the Principle Bench of NGT in 2016. This Action plan is a Policy for the State as on date.”

Interestingly, the Action Plan is outdates since the government had set targets that were supposed to be met last year. The compliance document available on Central Pollution control board website lists the summary of Goa’s Action Plan. In the document, Goa Government had committed to completing its targets by September 2017 which it has clearly missed.

Is the Action Plan same as State Solid Waste Management Policy?

The Goa Government has clearly tried to mislead the Courts by submitting the Action Plan as a substitute for a Solid Waste Management Policy. Whether this is a contempt of Court is something the Supreme Court will have to decide. However, the ground reality is that there has been no concrete solution to the problems of Garbage management faced by the majority of villages in Goa, which was highlighted by Panchayat representatives in during the launch of Swachh Survekshah Grameen on 10th August.

There is a huge gap between the Solid Waste management Rules 2015 and Goa’s waste management strategy. While the State Government prides itself in implementing a multi crore plant that can take in unsegregated waste, the SWM Rules state that every household, private company etc has to segregate and store the waste generated by them in three separate streams namely bio-degradable, non-biodegradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins and handover segregated wastes to authorised waste pickers. In addition, all gated communities and institutions with more than 5,000 sqm area have to ensure that bio-degradable waste is processed, treated and disposed off through composting or bio-methanation within the premises. There are many other guidelines laid down in the Rules which the Goa Government is yet to enforced  

In light of these differences, the question is whether the Government is serious about waste management or are they just trying to mislead the Supreme Court. The SC had initially taken up the case because of a child who succumbed to Dengue. In Chicalim, there was a similar death of a student who died due to dengue. There were three construction sites around the school.

Many villages have not identify a garbage management site, yet construction of new buildings have been approved adding a burden on current infrastructure. Further, in light of TDR and Regional Plan 2021 adding lakhs of square meters of area, will Goa be able to manage garbage or will we create more Sonsodo dumps across Goa.

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