While the high powered coordination committee chaired by former Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar in coordination with Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza has suggested and approved the idea of scientific capping of the dump, the Goa State Pollution Control Board chairperson Jose Manuel Noronha and Environment Minister Alina Saldanha are against capping as they fear the land will be lost forever.
In January 2012, MMC at its special meeting gave its nod for the capping of Sonsoddo in a scientific manner as recommended by solid waste management consultant P U Asnani. The capping of the garbage dump was necessitated as the soil testing conducted by an independent laboratory of samples of the dump confirmed the presence of toxic metals. The proposal for scientific closure of the Sonsoddo dump on the lines of the Gorai dumping ground, Mumbai, was initially mooted by the concessionaire for the solid waste management plant, Fomento.
MMC officials and councillors then visited the Gorai site in October 2011 and seemed pleased with what they saw there. Asnani, in his report, suggested to MMC that the Sonsoddo garbage dump be capped
following specifications of scientific closure as per the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000, and that the exercise be monitored during the capping exercise. The capping exercise replaced the original plan of screening the existing waste from the dump and carting away the rejects for safe disposal.
Furthermore, in two consecutive assembly sessions, responding to queries on the scientific capping posed by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, D’Souza who holds the urban development portfolio acknowledged that the government had agreed to scientific capping.
“Margao Municipal Council has already received DPR from the Consultant K R Gopalkrishnan for the scientific capping of Sonsodo on February 2, 2013. The cost involved is Rs 7,76,45,919,” D’Souza had said.
He had also said that MMC had “referred the DPR to PWD for technical Sanction. Once the technical Sanction is obtained the same will be sent to the government for sanction of funds.”
On being queried about the likely commencement and completion of the project, D’Souza had said it would depend on the sanction and receipt of funds. “As soon as the sanction is obtained the council will tender the work. However the same is expected to commence by December 2013 and it may take eight months to complete the work of scientific capping,” he had said.
The situation has not changed. “As far as capping is concerned we had suggested that the present site be screened using trammel and sieves to sort the waste and dispose non-biodegradable content by co-incineration and also to explore the possibility of using the biodegradable content for plantations and ornamental plants. We had made this proposal on account of the limited land available in the state and we need to understand that for this reason, minimal amount of waste should be land filled,” GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha told Herald this week.
It is to be noted that civil society and NGOs are not in favour of capping and want the garbage site to be shifted.
Questioning the availability of land, the HPCC said that the presence of lead and arsenic means the dump has to be scientifically capped which would give a green cover over the landfill site upon completion.
Parrikar had also assured too provide MMC the necessary funds for the project when it was asked by the HPCC to effect consultant K Gopalkrishnan’s payment of Rs 7.71 lakh, in phases. The DPR submitted by the consultant consists of all bills of quantity, cost estimates, designs and drawings.
The effective area of the garbage dump to be capped is almost 15,000 square metres, while the effective volume of the garbage is nearly 1.4 lakh cubic metres.
The capping exercise envisages levelling and reforming the existing dump by incorporating environmental mitigation measures.
