It has dragged on for years, and now as the need for a garbage management facility is absolutely pressing, the viability of the site that was identified for such a facility years ago, has returned as a major polemical issue. Bainguinim was over a decade ago selected for a solid waste management plant, and the government feeling the need of such a plant at the earliest has decided to expedite the project and get it completed in 20 months. Quite plainly, there can be no dispute on the fact that a solid waste management plant is of absolute necessity. The dispute here is about the site.
In a hearing that went on for nine hours, the people of the area objected to the location of the plant, proffering various reasons – habitation close to the site being one of them. The fact that there are housing colonies close to the proposed garbage management site is not, at the present time, a very valid point to argue on. Many of the housing colonies came up in Bainguinim much after the site was identified for a garbage dump. The developers and builders were in full knowledge of this and if they did not pass on this bit of information to their buyers – be it of plots or of built-up structures – then it should be considered as a wilfull omission on their part. What effect will this site have on residential areas that existed before it was proposed is a question that is valid.
The issue, however, remains of a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated 200 metres away and what could be the fallout of this unit on the heritage structures that are centuries old. Accepting the fact that it is important to have a garbage treatment plant, the Church has resolutely stated that one such in ‘close vicinity to a holy and significant place, having also a world heritage site status, is just unacceptable’. This is not a new stand on the issue taken by the Church, but one that it has voiced right from 2008. The government should be able to convince the Church authorities that these preserved structures will in no way be damaged or come to be threatened by the unit. Failing to convince the Church authorities in this will put the entire project under a cloud as any danger to the structures can also be considered to endanger human lives.
A solution to the garbage problem is long overdue. Goa has to expedite its efforts at finding solutions to garbage management. There is now a ministry with a minister in place, so the seriousness of finding solutions needs to be stepped up, and not left pending. If the latter occurs, then the purpose of forming a new ministry will be defeated. Bainguinim has revealed that wherever such a facility is proposed, there is going to be oppositiion to it. One major reason for this, is the failure of successive interventions at Sonsoddo that do not give people the confidence that a garbage plant in their backyard will be anything different. The Saligao plant may have been a success, but it still remains in the news for the stink that emanates from here. Perhaps the government should take up the Sonsoddo garbage dump and prove to the people that it can turn a garbage plant into a success.
The new Minister for Waste Management will have to prove by deeds and not just words that he is capable of the task he has undertaken. His first major mission would be tackling the Bainguinim controversy to the acceptance of all. Right now the battle lines in Bainguinim are drawn quite clearly, but can he convince them to the government view?
