Team Herald
MARGAO: Shifting the blame back on the Margao Municipal Council, Deputy Chief Minister Francisco D’Souza, who handles the urban development portfolio, stressed that the State government cannot be at fault for the failure of the MMC to solve the Sonsodo problem.
While offering clarity on the recent developments where the MMC has repeatedly claimed that it had done what it could have in its capacity regarding Sonsodo, D’Souza made it clear that garbage management is entirely the responsibility of the municipality.
He also criticized the municipality for failing to tackle the problem and said that the government cannot take care of Sonsodo but can only provide logistic and technical support. He gave the example of how the government provide funds to implement a technology and the only time the government can be blamed if there is a delay in making the funds or technology available.
and even for that the MMC has to follow due procedure.
He also recalled how the government has had many discussions with the MMC but that all were in vain as the situation remained unchanged.
D’Souza also criticized the municipality for failing to look for innovative solutions and on those lines, questioned why the municipality had not thought of working with the department of science and technology that collects plastic waste from local bodies and sends the same to Karnataka. D’Souza reasoned that this would reduce the amount of waste gathering at Sonsodo garbage dumping site and that only the non biodegradable waste can be sent to the dumping site and thus reducing the existing load at the site.
He ruled out intervening in the matter and pointed out that the constitution does not allow them to intervene in local bodies but can only provide them with powers and functions.
D’Souza is expected to confirm the government’s official stance on the issue in the forthcoming assembly session while the governments high powered committee will also arrive at a decision on July 20.
