l 9 councils send their plastic to bailing stations, Margao doesn’t l Margao council has ignored correspondence and govt plans to make Margao plastic free l Margao has become Goa’s shame on plastic management
TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council has been caught napping once again on waste management – this time on its abject failure to implement the government scheme on plastic and dry waste collection.
Launched three months ago on February 1, around nine Municipal Councils have partnered with the government to solve the acute plastic waste problem plaguing the urban areas, but Margao Municipality is a big exception. While plastic waste generated in the nine Municipal areas now finds its way to the government’s bailing stations set up at both North and South Goa, the city is literally littered with plastic waste, thanks to the Civic body’s indifference and apathy towards the burning issue.
Before the scheme came into force this year, Chief Secretary B Vijayan had an interaction with the City fathers and Civic officials, on how to go about its implementation, but the ground reality remains unchanged in the commercial capital till date.
Officials of the department of Science and Technology, the nodal agency appointed to implement the scheme, conceded that Margao’s plastic and dry waste finds its way to Sonsodo along with other waste, throwing up problems at segregation at the waste dumping site. Director, Science and Technology, Levinson Martins said that the Margao Municipal Council does not figure in the list of nine Municipal Councils that have started collecting the waste at one point to facilitate the contractor to lift the waste and transport the same to the bailing stations. “My department had received a letter from the civic body intimating that the contractor can lift the dry waste from Sonsodo. But, what we found in reality is that the waste was never segregated, which cannot be accepted at the bailing stations”, Martins added. “I see no reason why the scheme cannot be implemented in Margao. Because, the Margao Civic body has a workforce and if they send one worker to each ward on a weekly or fortnightly basis to collect the plastic waste from the residential houses, the problem can get solved”, he added.
MMC insiders say that the Margao Municipality can even put to use the defunct compositing units set up in many wards for plastic waste collection. Herald inquiries have revealed that the Margao Civic body had virtually sat on the government correspondence on the dry waste collection scheme from day one, indicating its utter failure to capitalise on the government proposal to lift and transport the plastic waste to the bailing stations.
29 panchayats and nine Municipal Councils have opted for the government plastic collection scheme, besides the school complexes. The government has set up an additional bailing station at Curchorem-Cacora, which has eight workers.
Says Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai: “The MMC is not functioning at all. It is a shame that even
the smaller Councils have joined hands to rid their towns of plastic. It appears that garbage
and plastic is not on the agenda
and priority of the Margao City
Fathers”.
