NESHWIN ALMEIDA
With a no show of just five councillors of 25 turning up for the Swatch Bharat walkathon organised by the Solid Waste management committee of the Margao Municipal Council, all eyes are on this committee and the real work undertaken by a committee that receives funds from GSUDA.
A committee that gets a sanction of Rs 14 lakh and a committee that lasts the entire term of the council, has just spend about one lakh and that too on only banners and a single programme while the town reels under garbage issues and there’s no sorting of garbage into wet and dry for over three years now while sanitation fees hiked.
“I was actually drafted into this committee through a WhatsApp message and told a formal letter will follow. Which has not happened till date actually at every meeting co-opted members like me and others are not taken seriously at all. The focus is only on the councillors in this committee who only meet to plan celebrations like Gandhi Jayanti and the Swachh Bharat campaign. So many times I have discussed sorting of garbage with other members but nothing really has been done,” explains co-opted member Rashid Dsouza.
While Clinton Vaz who runs his own solid waste management and dry waste unit asserted that the committee is only of advisory nature and has no monetary dealings while it’s a committee that has no devolution of powers to make changes to the current system.
“I suggested a better segregation method for dry waste like the one the City Corporation of Panaji has adopted and I also suggested bringing in another company to oversee the work of Fomento at Sonsoddo but the excuses from the councillors and chairperson is of paperwork and processes and our suggestions as the committee jus stays as suggestion with nothing concrete done till date and we are on this committee as long as this council completes its term.
While Orlando Pacheco also on this committee recollects how he and the other members were successful in at least hosting an event for the heads of eleven schools from Margao and carried out a campaign enlightening the heads of the school on dry waste and wet waste management which was the only highlight of this committee.
“Babita has assured me that we will utilize the funds available and we will do the needful to ensure we can kick start a campaign to get people to segregate their waste but nothing has been possible till date,” stated Orlando.
While Ashish Dukle another member of the solid waste management also highlights that plans are in place to manage solid waste and to tackle wet waste which is all in the pipeline.
The committee with no real powers and not even been in any dialogue with Fomento Green who unsuccessfully currently manage the existing solid waste management plant at Sonsoddo. This is confirmed by Fomento Green CEO Sridhar Kamat who confirms that the Solid Waste Management Committee though has its suggestions and thoughts about the solid waste scenario in Margao but has not even once met with Fomento Green officials and nether has the municipality setup any such meeting which is confirmed to us by the Chief Officer.
