MARGAO: A day after Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo inspected the waste treatment plant at Sonsoddo, a section of Margao Municipal Councillors criticised the MMC Chairperson Babita Angle for being a part of the protests staged at Sonsoddo on Thursday.
On Friday, the council had called for an emergency meeting to discuss the submissions needed to be made for the arbitration on the current Sonsoddo issue.
Councillors Clara Fernandes, Dorris Texeira, Suchita Malkarnekar, Ketan Kurtarkar and questioned the Chairperson for not being part of the inspection instead in order to be aware about what had transpired there given the importance of the issue.
Referring to the protests during the Minister’s inspection, Councillor Ketan Kurtarkar, asked if the protestors had tried to find out what the Minister wanted to say and has planned. He also referred to Fatorda MLA and former Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai for not holding a High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting when he was part of the government earlier.
Councillor Doris Texeira conceded that they should have listened to what the Minister had to say.
Councillor Clara Fernandes also criticised the Chairperson and Chief Officer (CO) and demanded that action be taken against the CO. “He (CO) doesn’t turn up at the inspection neither is he in his office when needed, “she quipped.
Clara questioned Babita saying, “Why are we letting the issue of Sonsoddo go on. We don’t want justifications from the Chairperson. You shouldn’t have stood down there.”
Councullor and former MMC chairperson Arthur D’silva added, “What is the reason for arbitration? What went wrong? The council has committed a blunder and given the concessionaire a cakewalk by going into arbitration. The issue has reached a dangerous level.”
Margao Municipal Council (MMC) further decided to
put the ball in the court of the ‘HPCC for Sonsoddo’, to advise them on what their future course of action should be in this matter.
The council also resolved to scale down the present payment of Rs 1 lakh per week to Fomento to Rs 25,000. MMC will submit this decision to the arbitrator during the hearing scheduled for September 30.
“As far as Sonsoddo is concerned, HPCC is governing MMC. The technical section should have been proactive. It is the administration, which has failed not the council. The council was only expected to take decisions on time” said Babita.
The chairperson also offered clarity on the alleged payment of Rs 1 lakh per day to Fomento and said that was not the case.
“We don’t know how and who quoted but may have said it in a hurry because of the festive season was arriving. Now since we have studied the operational cost Rs. 25,000 per week would be right,” added Babita.
“We will direct the Chief Officer of MMC who is the Member Secretary of the HPCC to immediately convene a meeting of HPCC and seek information on whether the Solid Waste Management is the agency who will take over the plant or anyone else. Let the HPCC tell it to us. No communication has been received from both the agencies. Council has to be taken into consideration” she told.
