11 Apr 2023  |   06:24am IST

HC directs citizens irked with shoddy handling of Sonsoddo waste to raise concerns with GWMC

Team Herald

MARGAO: The Registrar (Legal and Research) of the High Court in Mumbai has directed a group of Margao citizens to voice their concerns before the committee led by Levinson Martins, the Managing Director of Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC), regarding the remediation work carried out at Sonsoddo dump yard.

In response to this, Savio Coutinho, a representative of the Margao citizens, stated that they will request the concerned committee to address the issues they have raised about the remediation of legacy waste.

The Margao citizens had filed a writ petition before the High Court demanding the appointment of a team of qualified individuals to assess the remediation work and submit a report confirming whether the three components of the remediated waste - compost, inert or RDF, qualify for dumping in low-lying water catchment areas.

“In the petition, we have highlighted the modus operandi of the authorities, where they deliberately neglect to take appropriate steps, and create panic situations," said Coutinho. He added that the risks of 

fire, landslides of accumulated garbage, and 

pollution caused by the flow of leachate have been pointed out.

Coutinho further stated that the MMC and GWMC were not only misusing the court's directives and misleading the court but also causing irreversible damage to the environment by indiscriminately dumping screened mixed garbage near the South District Court at Margao and other low-lying areas.

“The remediation process undertaken is nothing but haphazard screening of the legacy waste, and no tests are conducted on the different components of the screening,” said Coutinho.

He added that the reason they approached the HC was the arbitrary hike in the quantity of waste and rates for remediation, subjecting the public exchequer to a grave financial burden.

The Registrar has now directed the concerned citizens of Margao to raise their grievances in the meeting involving the state government officials and others, as directed by the High Court of Bombay in Goa.