MARGAO: Fire continues to haunt the Sonsoddo, as a dump piled up outside the old treatment plant was engulfed by a massive fire on Friday noon. Interestingly this time the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) is suspecting the fire for grass at the adjoining property is a cause.
However, MMC was lucky enough that the fire did not spread inside the old treatment plant; otherwise it would have resulted in a major fire.
The last incident reported of fire at Sonsodo was March 4, wherein raging flames had reduced hundreds of tonnes of plastic and dry waste stacked.
Fire personnel managed to douse the fire by 5 pm, but later again rushed at the site in the late evening, when garbage caught fire for a second time in a day.
Friday’s incident is considered an alarming sign to the government of Goa and mostly to the newly taken charge of Waste Management Babush Monserrate to look into the matter seriously, and find a way out to resolve the issue at the earliest. It took nearly five hours for the fire personnel to douse the fire.
Upon hearing the message fire personnel from Fire and Emergency Services, Margao, besides Lyndon Pereira, Chairperson of Margao Municipal Council, and other concerned officials rushed to the site. Even Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco visited the spot, wherein he blamed the civic body and the bosses of Municipality for the mess at Sonsodo.
Reportedly, a similar incident was reported in the month of March, and the civic body had pointed fingers on the power department for the 33 KV high tension line passing above the dump area as cause of fire, due to short-circuit. However, the officials of the department had categorically refuted the allegations laid down by the MMC. At the same time the Power Department had managed to increase the height of the high tension line immediately.
Firstly, Fire and Emergency Services received a call from management of Manovikas High School, which is very near to the Sonsoddo dump yard at 12.30 noon informing about the grass fire. Soon fire personnel rushed to the site and managed to douse the fire.
However, within a few minutes it spread to the nearby grass and caught fire to the garbage dumped outside the old treatment plant at Sonsoddo. All the garbage near the plant gutted in fire within no time. Smoke was seen billowing out from the base of the dump, and the fire personnel were battling with the flames in the hot sun till the evening. It took nearly four hours to douse the fire.
Speaking to media persons Lyndon Pereira, Chairperson of MMC said that on Friday the first fire incident took place inside the compound of the Manovikas High School, which is close to the Sonsodo dump yard.
It is pertinent to note that the Sonsoddo landfill site has a history of fire outbreaks. Yet there is no solution in sight to deal with this vexed issue.
“The fire spread to the garbage dump outside the old treatment plant. We came to know about the fire around 1.30 pm,” he said.
He further said that Waste Management Minister Babush Monserrate and Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane will be visiting the Sonsoddo in the next week,” he said.
Reginaldo said that this incident is God’s signal to them, to do something pertaining to the issue of Sonsoddo.
“The fire will be the end result if somebody is trying to delay the resolving of the Sonsoddo menace. All need to take this issue very seriously. I have already instructed the Municipality to focus on segregated garbage and no more mixed waste in the Sonsoddo dump yard,” said Reginaldo.
He further said that he will be after the civic body in order to put in place the system of garbage.
Reginaldo also charged the MMC Chairperson Lyndon Pereira for stating that segregation of waste is done only in Fatorda, and questioned why not in Margao town?
“My people can’t take this anymore. I am not fit to be a MLA, if I am not able to resolve the problem faced by my people because of the Sonsoddo menace. I will monitor the work at Sonsodo on a daily basis,” said Reginaldo.
He further alleged that this mess at Sonsodo is due to no seriousness from the part of Municipality and bosses in the civic body.
“They are only concerned with self-interest,” he alleged.
The MLA also challenged the opposition to prove his corruption pertaining to the Sonsoddo issue.
However, Gil Souza, Fire Officer at Fire and Emergency Services informed that they managed to douse fire before it spread to other areas.
