CANDOLIM: The Candolim residents and Consumer Forum visited the garbage treatment plant at Saligao on Tuesday morning to take stock of the situation and check the status of the remediation being carried out.
A member of the Candolim Residents and Consumer Forum, Roshan Mathias who was part of the visiting delegation, said that remediation work was underway of segregating the dump outside the plant.
“They had promised that by the end of May they would finish the work of remediation. The size of the dump outside the plant has been reduced to half which is a good sign and the smell has reduced to a great extent. Most of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)-waste has been kept aside to be sent to the cement plants. Around ten trucks were there at the Solid Waste Management Plant at Saligao fully loaded with RDF. During the monsoon, the RDF present at the plant will be covered with a plastic,” said Roshan.
RDF is a bi-product generated from a Solid Waste Management Plant which is being sent to cement plants because it is an environment friendly and safe disposal method and defined by Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules 2016.
Agnelo Baretto, another member, told Herald that the size of the dump is reduced substantially as promised, but they have not completed the job of remediation. “They have covered the two dump sites with tarpaulin. They are going to continue with the work, but I am not sure if they will be able to carry out remediation during the monsoon. We had earlier written about the fear of contamination of ground water due to the leachate that will flow from this garbage in the monsoon,” he said.
One may recall that the Forum had visited the plant on April 30 due to the foul smell from the plant. During their visit, they had learnt that the smell was coming from the dump outside the plant due to the remediation in progress. The officials at the plant had assured that the dump outside the plant would be remedied by May-end prior to the monsoon.
