Team Herald
PANJIM: After standing firm, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) on Wednesday relented and agreed to hand over 1.71 lakh sq meters land at Bainguinim to the State government to set up a garbage treatment plant.
However, the special CCP meeting resolved to hand over the land to Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) on two conditions – that the government give an undertaking that the land would be used solely for purpose of setting up garbage waste management treatment facility along with another letter mentioning the time frame.
It was also decided that waste from the jurisdiction of CCP, Taleigao and Old Goa panchayats shall be allowed to be treated on priority. The new waste management plant would be built on the basis of the waste treatment plant at Saligao with an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore and a capacity of 250 tonnes daily. “We were apprehensive and scared because if we part with our land what will happen? We will be giving this land to the government but with a rider that this land shall solely be utilised for the garbage treatment plant whereby priority will be given to CCP, Taleigao Village Panchayat and Se Old Goa for treating the garbage,” Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado said.
“What we had said is that we wanted to take legal opinion and that legal opinion came in which said that CCP could also lease out the land to the government but then Vijai Sardesai went to talk to the CM on behalf of Atanasio Monserrate and then the CM said that he has no problem and that the government wanted this land because if GWMC approaches any financial institution they will want to know if the land belongs to them,” Furtado said. The Mayor said that CCP is not against setting up the plant and was going ahead with such an agreement so that the same land is not utilised for some other purpose.
“We could not hand over the land to the State government with just one letter coming from the DMA that too of just 10 lines. CCP wanted that the land should be used for the correct purpose of setting up the plant. Also no plans from the government have come to us about the quantum of land GWMC requires, number of years it will take for the setting up of garbage facility,” he said
The Mayor on Tuesday, reading out the legal advice by Adv Pronoy Kamat, had said that the corporation is against leasing out the 1.71 lakh sq meters of land to GWMC as it would be difficult to retrieve this in case it wants to put it to any other use while also demanding that an MOU be signed between the State, CCP and GWMC, with CCP reserving the right of ownership over the land.
