Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) is facing a tough time with regard to treatment of waste from the commercial town, but on the other hand the biomethanation plant installed at South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) market is working below its capacity, as the civic body supplies only around 2.6 tonnes of wet waste to the plant.
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The above 5 TPD plant was put in operation a few months ago with much fun-fair in November 2021. However, now it appears to be functioning below its capacity.
Herald too has highlighted this issue before, wherein the men at work had informed that they are short of wet waste. Now, the residents of Margao have expressed concern over the issue and urged the MMC to see to it that the plant is put in operation to its full capacity.
Shankar Borkar, a resident of Margao said that it is the responsibility of the civic body to make available the required wet waste for the plant so that it runs smoothly.
“It is surprising to note that the residents of Margao and Fatorda are facing a tough time pertaining to the waste generated, and on the other hand the 5 TPD plant is short of wet waste. It is more shocking to know that there is no proper arrangement to tackle the wet waste from the civic body,” Borkar said.
Savio Coutinho, convenor of Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) also reacted on the issue and said common sense would suggest that if five tonnes of wet waste is unavailable at the SGPDA market, then the segregated wet waste from households could well be supplied to the plant.
“But this is not done, and it goes to prove that the waste collection agencies are not delivering segregated wet waste to Sonsoddo shed either,” he said.
He further said another aspect that remains to be looked into is the generation of power, which is another component of this waste treatment. At present, the methane gas produced gets converted for the use of the running of the plant, which is a welcome, though not to the advantage of the MMC.
“If this 5 TPD plant is run with its actual capacity, the council also would probably gain from the power that would be generated,” Savio said.
The SCM convenor said, “The Council is talking about grandiose plans for setting up of 25 TPD plant, but have no plans to improve on the proper segregation of waste. The civic body should set up their priorities in order.”
According to Savio, the operations of this plant are causing some problems to the nearby hotels due to the foul odour at the time of delivery of the wet waste by the MMC, and at the time of feeding of the waste into the plant. If the council could work out some mechanisms with the plant operators, the problems of these eateries also would be solved.
