ASHRAF KHAN
VALPOI
Valpoi Municipal Council’s (VMC) garbage treatment plant at Sayyad Nagar, is awaiting garbage treatment machinery for the last three years.
VMC had identified land for dumping garbage at Sayyad Nagar about six years ago, and the plant was ready with the huge shed for installing machinery ready some three years ago, but there is no machinery.
Worse, large amounts of garbage are dumped by VMC regularly here, and in the absence of treatment machinery, the garbage is often burnt by the council. Anticipating pollution problems in the future, the residents have demanded that the government provide machinery to the plant at the earliest.
When contacted, VMC Chairperson Ramdas Shirodkar said VMC had written to departments concerned several times, but till date VMC has not received any positive response from any authority except assurances that the procedure for e-auctioning of machines is on.
“Following complaints from residents, who demanded to commission the project soon, VMC had requested the department concerned several times to provide organic waste converter (OWC), but we have not received government approval for e-tendering OWC, due to which the project is held up since past few years,” said Shirodkar.
“I feel the government is not serious in sorting out the garbage issue in Valpoi and VMC for no fault of its own, has to face the wrath of the public due to non-completion of the project, though we are regularly collecting garbage,” said Shirodkar.
“Even the VMC monitoring committee is inspecting the site as and when required. I again appeal to the government to solve Valpoi garbage issue at the earliest,” he said.
An NGO member of VMC’s garbage monitoring committee, Abdulla Khan, said the garbage treatment plant with an estimated cost of about Rs 3 crore once commissioned will process 10 metric tonnes of garbage per day including bio-medical waste.
“The plant has been designed considering the future growth of Valpoi town in next two decades. Unfortunately, the plant is without machinery,” he said and appealed the government to provide the machinery.
Prominent businessman and a resident of Sayyad Nagar, Valpoi, Sarfaraz Sayyad, said about 100 families residing at Sayyad Nagar were assured by the authorities that the plant will be completed within a year or two, but nearly three years have passed that the shed at the plant is lying idle with only a small leaf cutter machine installed.
“Garbage is dumped outside the shed and many stray animals are seen at the garbage site, raising concern among the villagers of Sayyad Nagar. The garbage is either burnt or buried in front of the shed in the absence of treatment machines,” he said.
He expressed apprehension that the situation in future may worsen in the absence of proper treatment to the garbage. “If government continues to delay completion of the project, then I feel we could witness a Sonsodo-like situation at Valpoi. I appeal to the government to commission the project soon by providing necessary machines,” requested Sarfaraz.
