Team Herald
PANJIM: Newly appointed Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Commissioner, Deepak Desai, took charge on Monday, and will focus on the immediate commissioning of the garbage treatment facility behind Heera petrol pump near KTC bus stand that has been pending since 2008.
On his first day in office, Desai laid emphasis on trying to understand the Union Government introduced Smart City Mission and AMRUT schemes, concepts new to him. “I am well versed with municipality issues, but Smart City Mission and AMRUT scheme is something new for me. Today I spent my day trying to understand them,” he told Herald.
“The Smart City proposal is pending before the Union Government since April 21. On the AMRUT front, Rs 29 crore has been sanctioned by the Centre for water supply, sewerage and development of open spaces. We are waiting for a concrete proposal from GSIDC on this,” Desai said.
Speaking about his priority, Desai said completion of pre-monsoon works will be his focus. “The monsoon is set to approach, we have to complete the pre-monsoon works before that in all 30 wards covering the city,” he said.
“Garbage disposal is another major task before us. We have to immediately commence the facility behind Heera Petrol Pump,” he said. The work of the Solid Waste Management Facility built by Shilpi Constructions was expected to be completed by April with plant commissioning from May.
Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has directed CCP to commence operations of its plant by May 31, failing which action would be initiated.
The government last week had shunted out long-standing CCP commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues replacing him with Desai. Rodrigues, managing director of Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), was holding charge as CCP commissioner since 2009.
