Team Herald
PANJIM: On the eve of December 19 – the deadline set by the BJP-led government to make Goa garbage free – it decided to form a Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC), to tackle the serious issues relating to all waste generated in the State.
The High Level Task Force on Solid Waste Management met on Friday under chairmanship of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, and decided to amend the Solid Waste Management Rules to form the corporation. The bill in this regard will be introduced during the forthcoming Winter Session of the State Legislative Assembly, beginning next month.
Sources said the Corporation will deal with all solid waste management issues and it will work out different plans and proposals to make State garbage free. The Corporation’s main aim would be towards making Goa a Swach Goem. The corporation will focus on all kind sof waste generated in the State – solid, municipal, e-waste and hazardous.
The Task Force also laid emphasis on immediate identification of a special site to process the hazardous waste generated by the industrial units. On an average 30,000 tonnes of hazardous waste are generated by 162 hazardous units annually.
“State does not have any site to treat or process hazardous waste, which leads to major environmental pollution and health problems. Currently, the waste is treated at Taluja in Navi Mumbai,” sources said.
The meeting also discussed the progress of two solid waste management treatment facilities coming up at Saligao and Cacora.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, Environment Minister Rajendra Arlekar, Minister for Science and Technology Alina Saldanha, Chief Secretary R K Srivastava, Chairman of Goa State Pollution Control Board Jose Manuel Noronha and others.
Former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on a number of occasions had promised to make Goa garbage free by December 19, 2015. However, his dream remained a ‘distant-dream’, with government authorities completely failing in the task. Public at large too, failed to co-operate with the government, with garbage heaps being piled up along state highways, national highways all across the State.
