MARGAO: The citizens of Margao strongly criticised the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) and MLA Digambar Kamat for creating history by attracting strictures from the High Court (HC) over failure to solve the long-standing Sonsoddo problem.
“Is this the Model Margao, the Margao MLA always boasts about?” questioned former MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho, addressing reporters along with several prominent Margao citizens including Adv Snehal Onskar, Sayed Iftiyaz, Jose Maria Miranda and Clifford Dias.
The citizens also held the High-Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC), backed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, solely responsible for the current mess.
Coutinho presented the minutes of HPCC meetings held from 2010 till date, revealing alleged manipulations and dubious schemes. He highlighted an example where the original 2010 tender required setting up a plant and segregating the waste at the Sonsoddo dump. However, due to the discovery of heavy metals and toxins like arsenic, a scientific capping method similar to the Gorai Mumbai dump was proposed and approved by the HC to prevent pollution caused by hazardous screened waste.
Despite the proposed scientific capping not being implemented, a new proposal emerged in 2016, termed ‘Bioremediation’. The Goa State Urban Development Authority (GSUDA) was entrusted with the task and received a bid of Rs 5.50 crore for the remediation of 96,000 cubic meters of waste at Sonsoddo.
With the introduction of the Ministry of Waste Management after the 2017 elections, Sonsoddo became an even more lucrative project. A new formula for remediation was devised by the newly formed Goa Waste Management Corporation, estimating the waste at 2.31 lakh cubic meters and a cost of Rs 43 crore, revealed by Coutinho during the briefing.
“The same waste, laden with hazardous and heavy metals and mercury levels six times higher than permissible limits, has now been dumped near the South District Court, causing irreparable damage to the environment and ecology,” alleged Coutinho.
The citizens’ collective launched a scathing attack on Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, accusing him of being solely concerned with the payments released to the contractors without questioning their non-performance.
Mathin Karol expressed concern that the HC has been manipulated for the third time into agreeing to remediate the accumulated waste inside the shed, resulting in the wastage of substantial public funds and the destruction of valuable organic compost that could have been produced from segregated waste.
Citizens raised their voices, questioning the squandering of tax money on ineffective measures. Carlos Gracias asked, “Why should our
tax money be squandered like this?”
