Removal of dry waste in Sonsoddo shed key to resolve future fire incidents: Report
MARGAO: A report prepared by the South Goa district administration after the inspection of Sonsoddo site on Monday, pointed out that the matured dry waste lying in the shed is a fire hazard and should be removed to resolve the fire incidents in future. As per the information received from the Collector office, nearly 11 points have been noted down for the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to take immediate action, besides several other observations which will be submitted before the High Court on Tuesday.
It has been suggested that the action plan needs to be executed by MMC in letter and spirit as per the revised deadline. Total 20 metric tonnes of wet waste has to be transported by the civic body to Saligao waste treatment plant without fail, to reduce accumulation of wet waste of Sonsoddo, 10,000 MT of accumulated waste to be removed, screened and disposed off by Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC).
Some of the works that has to be carried out (after monsoon) and completed within six months include: creation of additional space at Sonsoddo as per the approval granted by high powered committee, water capacity of tank to be increased from 50,000 litre to 1 Lakh litre (additional tank to be installed) and shifting of HT line (33 KVA) passing through Sonsoddo site by electricity department ground cabling).
MARGAO: In an interesting development pertaining to the much discussed topic of Sonsoddo waste treatment plant, the High Court on Monday directed the district administration to take a stock of prevailing situation there and upon which the District Collector, along with other officials, held an inspection at the site within a few hours after court orders.
Court has also directed the Margao Municipal Council to deploy one full-time engineer only at Sonsoddo.
Within a few hours of the High Court directions, Asvin Chandru, South Goa District Collector along with Srinet Kothwale, Additional Collector-I and Deepak Desai, Additional Collector -II, Gaurish Sankhwalkar, Chief Officer, Margao Municipal Council, besides officials from Fire and Emergency Services and concerned engineers of the civic body visited the Sonsoddo site.
During the inspection, the officials were seen struggling to move around the plant as the site was in pathetic condition, thus proving the claims made by the petitioner Roque Mascarenhas, representing ‘Citizens for Sonsoddo’ consisting mainly of local residents, proved right.
During the hearing at the High court, petitioner Mascarenhas had filed another petition, where he had brought to the notice of the court about the prevailing conditions at Sonsoddo regarding daily waste management. Petitioner had also highlighted the repeated fire incidents at the Sonsoddo yard. Taking serious note of the petition, HC directed the Disaster Management Authority to carry out inspection and submit the report.
Speaking to reporters after the inspection, the District Collector said that he visited the site upon the directions of the HC. “All that has been observed at the Sonsoddo dump yard will be presented before the HC after preparing a report on the same,” he said.
A day before, petitioner Roque Mascarenhas had expressed shock after seeing another dump within the vicinity of the Sonsodo dump yard. Hence, he gathered several pieces of evidence to prove that the concerned authorities failed to manage the waste generated and dumped at the Sonsoddo, before bringing this to the court’s notice.
Reacting to the inspection, Mascarenhas said that ‘Citizens of Sonsoddo’ members and the public in general want the concerned authorities to put the things in place pertaining to the daily waste.
“Everybody wants the Sonsoddo issue to be resolved permanently and hence the authorities are duty-bound to respect the sentiments of the public,” he said.
