Mapusa town has expanded significantly in recent years, but the rapid pace of construction and development has put a considerable load on its infrastructure. One of the major problems faced by residents of Mapusa is disposal of garbage.
While the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) claims that it has done a lot to resolve the garbage problem, residents claim that the problem will only be solved with a full-fledged garbage treatment plant.
About 15-16 tonnes of garbage are generated in Mapusa every day and in a bid to encourage its residents to segregate their garbage, Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) distributed 16,000 5-litre bins each of black (dry waste) and green (wet waste) to the households.
MMC then advised the households to keep wet waste like fish, meat, kitchen waste, etc, in green bin, while dry garbage like paper, plastic bags, etc, were to placed in black bins.
“MMC has employed about 70 labourers on contract basis to collect domestic waste from households. Wet garbage is being collected every day, while dry waste is collected thrice a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. MMC charges Rs 200 every household annually for the collection of waste door-to-door basis,” MMC Chairperson Sandeep Falari told Herald.
“MMC spends about Rs 60 lakh towards house-to-house collection of domestic waste, but receives only Rs 32 lakh from the residents as garbage fees. MMC suffers a huge loss on this service, but as part of its social obligation, the council is offering this subsidized service to Mapsekars, which sadly only a few people appreciate,” said Falari.
He said that MMC has also kept about 350 community bins of 240 litres each in the municipal area for dumping of garbage.
“Of these 350 bins, 200 bins have been supplied by Goa State Urban Development Authority (GSUDA). The garbage collected from the Mapusa municipal area is then dumped at Assagao plateau by trucks,” informed Falari.
MMC has installed an Organic Waste Converter (OWC) and a baling machine at Assagao. The garbage is being segregated into wet and dry garbage. The dry garbage is then compressed with the baling machine, while wet garbage is treated at the OWC and converted into manure. The baled plastic is collected by the agency appointed by the State government once in a week.”
Falari mentioned that MMC has also installed one OWC near the fish market to treat wet waste generated in the market area.
“Besides, there are composting stations in Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 14. The wet garbage collected from these wards is treated in these composting units. MMC has so far earned around Rs 1.2 lakh through the sale of manure generated from wet garbage,” added Falari.
Admitting that the MMC has made efforts to address garbage woes in the town, local residents have, however, felt that more needs to be done.
“MMC is undoubtedly doing its best to solve the garbage problem, but that is not enough. The garbage problem is not going to be solved with the installation of one or two OWCs. Large quantities of garbage are being generated everywhere and MMC lacks infrastructure to handle it,” remarked Sohan Dessai of Mapusa.
“Everyday, one can see garbage accumulated in various parts of Mapusa. The problem of garbage disposal will be solved only with a garbage treatment plant and daily collection of garbage,” said Dessai.
Responding to demands for a garbage treatment plant, Falari said: “MMC has acquired an area of around 30,000 sq mtrs of land at Cunchelim to set up a garbage treatment plant, for which MMC has spent about Rs 2.3 crore.”
“A compound wall is being constructed in this area. The government has laid the foundation stone for a garbage treatment plant at Saligao Plateau. If the government allows MMC to send garbage to this plant, it will be a great relief for Mapusa town,” said Falari.
