MARGAO: Bioremediation of the Sonsoddo dump site officially started on Sunday as the multi-segregating machine along with two JCBs were moved to Sonsoddo where a religious ceremony with a priest and a Hindu bhat was held before commencing the work and the Sonsodo dump site is expected to disappear in three years.
The machine was used for only half an hour on Sunday just to level a small area and then it was shut down as maintenance work had to be undertaken since the engine oil seal was giving some problem.
Goa Solid Waste Management Corporation has awarded the contract of clearing Sonsodo to Hindustan Waste Treatment Pvt Ltd who are also handling the Saligao treatment plant and its owner Ganesh Kandaswami disclosed that the contract gives them two years excluding monsoons to complete the work.
“Excluding monsoons means, it will take three years,” he said and assured more machines will be put in place while the second will be coming by December 18 within the next 15 days more machines will be put into service.
“MMC has already identified sites to place the residue that we will recover from the process and once those lands are given to use you will see the impact of work,” he said disclosing that each machine can deal with 500 tonnes of waste per day.
Chief Officer of Margao Municipal Council Ajit Panchwadkar said there is around 2.5 lakh tonnes of waste accumulated at Sonsodo and MMC Chairpersons Pooja Naik thanked Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai for finally taking steps to clear Sonsodo that has been troubling people for decades.
It may be recalled that Michael Lobo when he visited Margao on 13th December had said that 70 per cent of the dump yard will be cleared by 15th June and further promised to set up the plant to treat wet garbage by January 2020 which will treat the wet garbage collected every day.
Earlier in 2017 when bio remediation exercise was carried out at Sonsodo nearly 20 per cent of the dump yard was cleared but since then it has grown bigger in size now.
