Team Herald

MARGAO: With the villagers and panchayat of Saligao raising strong objections to the transportation of garbage from Sonsoddo to the Saligao waste treatment facility for processing, the Margao Municipal Council is now in a fix, as they have run out of options for the disposal of the hillocks of waste accumulated at the Sonsoddo dumpsite.

Manuel Barreto, MMC Chief Officer admitted that the Council has a tough time ahead to come up with the next plan of action but is confident that they will work out a solution.

The civic body had planned to transport 10,000 tonnes of garbage that has been piled up inside the old treatment plant at Sonsoddo, to Saligao from next week, after getting the green signal from the Goa Solid Waste Management to do so.

However, the village panchayat and residents of Saligao, who already complain about the foul smell and spillage from trucks that bring garbage from several villages to be treated at the plant there, have written to the management of the Saligao Waste Management Corporation, to place their objection on record.

This has put the Margao Municipality in a tight spot, as the February 2023 deadline given to them by the High Court, to clear the legacy waste, draws closer. “The civic body will be unable to carry out any work inside the old plant if the accumulated waste is not removed at the earliest,” said Barreto.

Presently, the situation at the Sonsoddo site has gone out of control, with no place to dump the waste generated on a daily basis.

In April this year Goa Waste Management Corporation (GSPCB) had carried out a preliminary estimate and it was noticed that around 10,000 tonnes of garbage is piled up inside the Sonsoddo waste treatment plant and more has been added in the last six months. After the estimate, the MMC had detailed discussions with the Director of Urban Development and Urban Development Secretary on how to get rid of the piled-up waste from the old plant.