TEAM HERALD
PONDA: Chief Secretary B Vijayan met panchas and councillors from Ponda taluka to discuss the State government’s plans for dry waste collection from February 2014.
The State government is undertaking a pilot project from February next year in order to put in place a proper system for garbage collection and transportation, prior to setting up of the two garbage treatment plants in each district of the State.
According to information, dry waste collected will be stored at two locations, one at Sarvan (north Goa) and another at Cacora (south Goa), from where plastic after segregation will be sent to a cement factory in a neighbouring state to be used as fuel.
In a bid to motivate local elected representatives to undertake dry waste collection drive in their respective jurisdictions, Chief Secretary B Vijayan along with Department of Science, Technology and Environment director Levinson Martins held a discussion with the panchas and the councillors from Ponda taluka at the conference hall of the Ponda Sub District hospital.
This is eighth such meeting in this regard and the chief secretary will address more four such meetings in the rest of the talukas.
Martins assisted Vijayan by translating his speech into Konkani for better understanding, after Vijayan himself preferred and requested for the translation.
During the meeting, local elected representatives were informed on ways and means to carry out collection of segregated dry waste and were also told on how to arrange funds for the drive.
“There is no compulsion and this is purely voluntary. On an average, the Panchayat will have to spend about Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 every month on dry waste collection from houses and from market areas. Once collected and stored at a specific location, it will be transported to one of the two centres in North or South Goa,” Vijayan told the elected representatives.
Vijayan added, “Panchayats can avail of Rs 50,000 under rural garbage disposal scheme from the Directorate of Panchayat. You (Panchayat and Municipality) can avail funds for this project under the 13th finance commission’s basic and general grants. Another option could be that you (Panchayat or municipality) can approach the industries requesting to fund the project under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative and House tax collection also can be another option.”
Various issues were discussed during the meet, including the need for better coordination between local self bodies and the government departments and Vijayan agreed to look into the matter.
