The fire at Sonsoddo brings a growing sense of déjà vu and disbelief. As news trickled in that the dump had caught fire, and the reason for it being the presence of a high tension wire that came close to the heap of garbage illustrates not just how high the mound of garbage has grown, but also the negligence on the part of the authorities that has led to the fire. In December 2019, the fire at the same dump had been caused when the vertical scale a surveyor sent to quantify the dump accidentally came close to the 33 kVA high tension electric line running overhead and the resultant sparks had triggered the blaze. The continued presence of a high tension wire near the garbage dump, despite the earlier fire, highlights the negligence on the part of the authorities concerned.
The fire at Sonsoddo brings back to the fore the flammable issue of a mismanaged garbage dump that nobody takes ownership of and so exists as a stark reminder of how incapable are the State government and the local authorities in finding a permanent solution to this growing mountain of refuse. Garbage keeps getting dumped at the place and there are fires that are almost cries from the dump that some management is required here. The fire now is another such reminder.
Who, if anyone, will be held responsible for the fire this time? On past occasions, accountability was never placed. Will the same story repeat? If there is no will to find a permanent solution to the Sonsoddo issue, there will be nobody held responsible. Politically, this is an issue that has been simmering for years with attempted solutions that have never progressed beyond attempts, for besides making statements that will get media coverage, elected representatives of the area have done little to ensure that the growing Sonsoddo dump is contained, or that there will be no repeat of a fire.
The Sonsoddo dump is not in an isolated area. Perhaps when garbage first started being deposited here, it was an area that was neither residential nor agricultural. Not any longer. There are residential colonies and bungalows in the close vicinity of the dump and videos of the fire actually show just how close are some of the houses to the area where the garbage caught fire. There is also a school adjacent to the garbage mound and a little away there is a college. Despite there being residences and educational institutes in the vicinity, the garbage dump continues emitting flames, besides a stink, leading to a polluted environment for the residents and the students. This is a failure of the local authorities and the local elected representatives.
Over the year, crores of rupees have been spent on garbage treatment ventures at Sonsoddo. They have all gone up in smoke, as no solution has been found. In the meantime, fresh garbage has just been dumped over the existing waste as the elusive solution remains out of reach. The local Margao Municipal Council comes under attack and criticism for its failures in handling the dump, but it does not result in any solution.
The government and the local authorities appear incapable of handling the Sonsoddo dump. Since politically there is no solution possible, the management of the Sonsoddo dump has to be placed in the hands of experts. The helplessness of those tasked with the dump in clearing it is implausible. There are also no lessons learnt and no new techniques employed to clear it. In such a scenario, the possibility of another fire at another time is high. But it should not happen and it is for this reason that it requires experts managing it.
