MARGAO: It is now crystal clear that no proper vigil on the collection and dumping of garbage pertaining to un-segregated waste is the root cause of all the mess at Sonsoddo.
Herald on Wednesday made a point to go in depth to find out the functioning of the garbage collection, basically door-to-door collection in Margao and Fatorda, besides dumping of garbage in and around the old treatment plant at Sonsoddo and it was found that there is hardly any check on it. The civic body has no plans in place to see to it that the waste at Sonsoddo remains segregated.
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The segregated waste collected at the door steps is dumped in an unsegregated manner at the dump yard, despite some efforts from the part of waste collectors. However, it was shocking to note that in some wards labourers and the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) workers were least bothered to take care of the segregated waste at the door steps of every household.
It has been further revealed that the garbage collected by the Margao Municipal workers from the black spots is 99 per cent mixed one, and is directly dumped at the Sonsoddo. Even plastic along with wet and dry waste can be found inside the garbage collecting trucks during the morning hours.
For the past several decades, every successful government and the concerned companies appointed by the civic body have failed to treat the waste at Sonsoddo, and one of the main reasons was unsegregated waste.
There are a total of 15 trucks engaged in collecting the garbage from the jurisdiction of Margao Municipality, where 8 are dedicated for collection of wet and 7 for dry waste. Door-to-door garbage collection has been outsourced in nearly 20 wards, wherein the municipal workers are engaged in collecting the waste only in five wards. There are nearly five supervisors to monitor the functioning. MMC had identified more than 40 black spots in and around the jurisdiction of the civic body. .
Herald further revealed that in many wards it is being collected in a segregated manner. However, at most places there is no segregation of the waste at all. All waste which goes to the Sonsoddo is mixed with one another.
Many locals and even the councillors feel that segregation of waste is the root cause of the mess at Sonsoddo. No proper vigil from the civic body has further added to this mess in the recent years. Speaking to Herald, Ghanashyam Shirodkar, Councillor said that no proper vigil from the civic body is the only cause of this mess.
“Crores of rupees are paid to the contractors engaged in the door-to-door garbage collection, but at the end all is zero. Nobody from the civic body is bothered to keep strict vigil with regard to the garbage collection and dumping of the waste at Sonsoddo,” said Shirodkar.
He further said that one of the main conditions for the contractor is to collect the waste in a segregated manner, but it can be hardly seen at time of collecting it.
“We have also noticed that all the garbage collected from the jurisdiction of the civic body is dumped at Sonsoddo in an unorganised manner, resulting in mixed garbage,” said Shirodkar.
Lyndon Pereira, Chairperson also admitted that there are lapses pertaining to collection of garbage in segregated manner.
“We have also noticed that the garbage collected from nearly 40 black spots is a maximum mixed one, which is directly dumped at the Sonsoddo. Yes, this is a serious issue and we are trying hard to resolve it in the near future”, he said.
He said a new tender is out for the door-to-door garbage collection, wherein the condition of collecting segregated waste will be followed strictly.
“We need to find out the solution to supervise the collection of waste, and to take on the municipal supervisors”, said Chairperson.
Agnelo Fernandes, Chief Officer said the CCTV surveillance at the Sonsoddo can be one of the solutions to keep check on the same.
