l For how many monsoons will MMC manage the dump with tarpaulin?
l Delay in sorting out critical bottlenecks like door-to-door garbage collection and manpower, has made the Sonsodo plant a non-starter
Guilherme Almeida
gilu@herald-goa.com
This waste dump at Sonsodo symbolises the abject failure of the authorities to work out a permanent solution to the problem of solid waste management plaguing the commercial capital.
Every monsoon the MMC moves in to cover the Sonsodo dumping yard with tarpaulin to prevent leachate from the site from flowing into storm water drains and stop contamination of the ground water. This year isn’t going to be anything different. As the monsoon season commences, the civic body has issued work order to carry out the work of covering the dump yard with tarpaulin sheets at a cost of Rs 8.30 lakh.
So far, the Margao civic body has spent a whopping Rs 25 lakh to cover the site during the monsoons. This is in addition to the amount of Rs 5-6 lakh spent by M/s Fomento Green, (which has set up a waste management plant on the site) who had covered the site when it had taken possession of the site two years ago.
Taken together, a huge amount ranging between Rs 35-40 lakh (approximately) must have gone down the drain to cover the dumping site since the last four years, including the current year – throwing up two pertinent questions, one whether tax payers’ money can be allowed to go down the drain every year and whether the authorities have any permanent solution in place to tackle Sonsodo’s waste dumping site.
Incidentally, the Margao Municipal Council had planned capping of the existing Sonsodo site on the lines of Gorai-Mumbai. The ambitious project to cap the site, however, has hit a big block on two fronts. One, the estimates prepared by the Kerala-based consultant Balakrishnan to cap the project at a cost of Rs 7.42 crore has still not received the technical sanction from the PWD till date. And, secondly, Goa State Pollution Control Board has suggested to the Margao civic body to do a re-think on the capping proposal and instead go for sorting of the existing waste so that the existing dump yard admeasuring 15,000 sq mts is reused by the civic body.
Inquiries have revealed that the capping plan has still not received the technical sanction from the PWD. And, questions are raised whether the government will fund the capping project with GSPCB expressing serious reservations about the whole project.
Says GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha: “We are of the opinion that sorting of the existing waste at Sonsodo would be a better option the MMC should explore. The land housing the existing dump yard will be lost forever if the same is capped. By sorting the waste out, the MMC can make reuse of the land in question”.
The capping proposal was mooted by the civic body after a survey by Fomento Green unearthed heavy metals in the waste. The proposal had received a nod from the then High Powered Coordination Committee headed by former Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat, which felt that waste mixed with heavy metals should not be used for land filling anywhere in the city.
And, though the proposal had found favour with the incumbent HPCC headed by Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, the ground reality remains unchanged till date for best reasons known to the authorities, a reason which costs Rs 8.5 crore of the tax payers’ money every year, and that to for no relief from the mountain of waste which grows higher daily.
