Herald: We are debating one of the oldest problems that Margao has been facing. Coincidentally we are debating this in one of the oldest premises of the town – the BPS club. Everyone has been asking why this is being called a battle. We are not here to fight, but to find solutions. We all are aware of the garbage problem. It’s there in our houses, offices, and roads; disposal, segregation, door-to-door collection, various aspects. Why aren’t these problems being solved in Margao? What we are looking for is solutions. We are looking at the past only to find the solutions for the future, where Margao will be the cleanest town, garbage will not be a problem, and anyone passing by Sonsoddo will not have to hold his breath.
Let’s start with Shridhar Kamat, CEO of Fomento Green, a unique private initiative which was envisaged almost five years ago. People feel that the Sonsoddo experiment has failed. You were the concessioner who was supposed to deliver. You were given 17 months. If we take the actual date on which the construction license was given to you, which was January 6, 2012, it’s been three and a half years. Why has this dream failed?
Shridhar Kamat: To say that the project has failed will be unfair. The scope of the work assigned to Fomento Green was to set up a plant, to treat garbage at the plant, to construct a landfill, and whatever non-biodegradable material comesbe sent to the landfill. The construction license was issued to us on January 6, 2012, while the plant became operational on December 12, 2012, in less than one year. Since that day till today, the plant has been operating without interruption. There is also a garbage heap, which is a collection of garbage maybe from the last 40 to 50 years. It was also proposed to the government that initially we were supposed to segregate it and the municipality was supposed to cart it away. When we tested it, the presence of heavy metals like lead and arsenic were found. So obviously the municipality was not in a position to cart it away. It was advised that the existing dump – I’m not talking about the plant – has to be scientifically closed on the lines of how they did it in Gorai. The right word is scientific closure. The plant is operational. While, we took up the work of the landfill, we were opposed by certain elements saying that we are doing something illegal. We approached the government again for endorsement of further drawings and we are still awaiting approvals from the government.
Herald: Digambarbab, you were the CM and in the thick of things when it happened. You saw the process very closely. The issue here is that there are many nitty-gritties and micro-issues that we can go into. The broad issue is that this has been going on for five years irrespective of what the problem with Fomento Green is. The State was committed to the people of Margao that they would be getting a functional plant and the town would completely turn around. Is anybody going to take accountability for this colossal failure? The people are not interested in file movements or where the delays are. They are interested in solutions. In five years, if the commercial capital of Goa cannot ensure that a fully functional plant can be set up and garbage is segregated, then it’s a shame on all of us.
Digambar Kamat: Some years ago, in 1995 or ’96, the plant was supposed to be set up by Comex International Company under Norwegian technology, which fizzled out. The municipality and government cooperated, but somehow they did not put up the plant. On the contrary, they mortgaged the land to some bank and took a loan. After that, Hyquip Equipments decided to put up an open-vessel technology plant there, which again proved to be a failure. Subsequently, during my tenure as CM, I took it up on priority and asked the municipality to float the tender. Bids were called for and the lowest bid was given the project. So that there were no problems, a high-powered committee was constituted under the CM; the urban development minister was a member, the chief secretary was a member. This committee was supposed to monitor the progress of the plant on monthly basis. The foundation stone was laid somewhere in October in 2011 and the plant was inaugurated on December 12, 2012. During my tenure, two high-powered committee meetings were held. They wanted additional land to be acquired, which my government facilitated and acquired the land for the landfill site. They wanted permission for the landfill site, which was also given. But again this landfill permission was held-up. Even the subsequent CM agreed that the landfill site should be given permission. Even for capping, the government had agreed that it would give them the funds.
Herald: Are you saying that after you ceased to be the CM, the BJP government is at fault for slowing it down?
Kamat: I have been writing letters to them to hold a meeting. During my tenure, we released the grant to the municipality in one shot. We said that tomorrows somebody should not block the grants. For capping if they require grants, the government should give it to them. The proposal reports are there, everything is there, but no meeting has been held for the last six months to one year.
Herald: Arthur, it doesn’t take three years for you guys to get your act together. If less time is spent in toppling, politicking, etc and more time is spent on issues that concern Margao, I think solutions can happen. I can’t believe that it takes three years to get simple things like a landfill organized, to get a door-to-door system in place, to get segregated garbage. Panjim has done it. I’m not saying Panjim is an epitome of success, but compared to Margao it’s at least had a move on.
Arthur D’Silva: For door-to-door you require that much capacity. You require a compactor, trucks and labourers. We had only 90 labourers, while in Panjim there are 600 labourers.
Herald: But if you have not managed to get labour, that’s your failure.
D’Silva: We had sent a proposal to the government.
Herald: We’ll come back to this. We’re not blaming you specifically. At the end of the day you represent an institution. We’re blaming the institution. In three years if segregation cannot happen, if you cannot organize a labour force, if you cannot organize compactors, then what are we here for? Nilesh Cabral, you belong to the ruling dispensation right now. We understand that the Curchorem plant is extremely dear to you. We get the feeling that the government is not interested in actually solving the Sonsoddo problem because there is greater money available for bigger plants like in Curchorem and Calangute. Is it why the government is going slow to ensure that Sonsoddo fails?
Nilesh Cabral: I don’t agree with what you say. The government is there for the people, but will it do everything and how will it do everything is a question mark. Sonsoddo is not just today’s baby. Everybody has not done their job, so you can’t blame the present government. The plants at Curchorem and Calangute are for those localities. They may be 100-tonners, but that has nothing to do with Sonsoddo. These two constituencies must be generating around 70-75 tonnes of garbage every day. If Curchorem constituency can generate 35 tonnes, that means these two constituencies generate 70 tonnes. The plants which are being set up are 100 tons. So the question of Sonsoddo being neglected may be your way of expressing yourself. The government is not investing a rupee in this plant. The investor has to invest in it and he will get returns only after the plant is functional, and that too if he is able to take care of the garbage. So this is a different module. No such module has been followed in the past by the government. There are numerous plants set up all over Goa for which the government has paid. It is the municipality that has to support and take care of the plant. There is a difference between the plants in Curchorem and Calangute and the one in Sonsoddo.
Herald: At the end of the day, there is a commitment on the part of an elected government to help people. It cannot be embroiled in these bottlenecks. If there is any problem in a council and it is not getting solved, irrespective of which government is in power, there has to be some kind of a bailout system.
Cabral: Absolutely. Margao is not Goa. If one municipality is supported by the government, then every town has to be supported.
Herald: Vijaybab, as Fatorda MLA you are one of the key stakeholders. The issue is that it’s taken three years for the government to deliver. There seems to be no solution in sight. Let us look into the basic problem of door-to-door segregated collection. We have not been able to get it right. As MLA, what interventions have you made and where do we go from there?
Vijay Sardesai: Solid waste management is one of the issues where the government has not managed to get closure. As far as facts go, the license of this project was gotten on January 6, 2012. We got elected on March 6, 2012. The license came before us. Between the date when the license was issued and today, I’ve raised this issue four times in the Assembly, and every session of the assembly starred questions which have been hotly debated. But, I fail to get the information I need. The questions were starred questions on every aspect of Sonsoddo, including the duties of Fomento Green, the duties of the government, the status of capping, the status of door-to-door collection and segregation. There were innumerable unstarred questions. Still I believe we have not been able to achieve closure. This is the initiative as a legislator. To help segregation, I have seen that most housing societies in my constituency has been given a dry and wet bin at our cost, not the municipality’s cost because the municipality is crying for funds. The government that is supposedly backing this municipality does not give them the funds. I agree with Mr Cabral that Margao is not Goa. We could have been the first town to erect a scientific garbage treatment facility, which has now been successfully bamboozled by the present government. We are in a situation where the government believes that MMC represented by three opposition legislatures is not Goa, therefore it is not a priority of the government to hold this debate but a priority of Herald. I congratulate you for holding this debate. Now that the government is supposed to be awakened, and even if it is not awakened, I believe we three legislatures who represent this council has to take it up in the upcoming session and try to achieve closure. I presume the permission for the landfill has been received recently. It took three years to give permission for a landfill? Every road in every constituency has been made by filling. TCP is continuously giving permission for it, but here to get that permission it took three years. I fault Fomento Green for going soft on this. I think now it has gone beyond Fomento Green. It has gone beyond us also. It is everybody’s issue and we have to take it forward.
Herald: Reginaldo, taking off from what Vijay just said, there is this axis of three opposition MLAs – you have a former chief minister and two of the most vocal MLAs in the assembly. Fundamentally there are two things: one is ensure that door-to-door garbage collection is done correctly through segregation. The landfill site is now being given so that the work starts, capping happens and leachate is prevented. Have you personally and collectively made this your fundamental priority?
Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco: I agree with you that it should be a priority. Part of the responsibility was on me also as an MLA. Secondly, I want to blame Fomento Green because the owner was from Margao. I was expecting him to solve the problem way beyond these things. Being from Margao, he knew everything about what was happening in Sonsoddo. We are suffering every day. The stench has gone even kilometers away. We raised the issue of groundwater leachate before in the Assembly and outside the Assembly, but nothing seems to be happening. How to get it done should be our priority. It is good that it has become a people’s issue.
Herald: Coming to people’s issue, we have one of the fieriest people’s representatives on the panel, Advocate Rajeev Gomes. Irrespective of any other reason or priority or motive for taking the people’s movement forward, don’t you feel that the only way in which change can happen is if people rise, and there has to be a relentless people’s battle otherwise the government will not move?
Gomes: We have seen successive governments failing and that is why the citizens have decided to take governance in their hands. If we cannot get elected for different reasons, we have decided that at least now we will hold our elected representatives accountable to us. That is why the citizen’s movement has started. Garbage should actually not be an issue. See what arrangement Panjim has done for its citizens. The garbage collection and disposal is so well done, it’s a self-sustained activity. Panjim didn’t wait for government funds. They sustained it themselves by collection funds from households. It appears that this Sonsoddo issue is a fallout of a large scam involving politicians and corporates. Before 2011, when the Congress was in power, two types of heaps were piled in Goa. One was the mining heap and the other was the Sonsoddo heap. The mining heap grew up in size because of extra interest in it, and Sonsoddo heap grew up in size because there was lack of interest. The lack of interest is the problem. Because of this lack of interest, we are at this present stage. Nobody wants to look into it. If it can happen in Panjim, I don’t understand why it can’t happen in Margao. Have our elected representatives even got educated as far as the waste-disposal is concerned? No.
Herald: One government says they did their best, they signed the concession agreement, they were on the way to giving the landfill, the government got voted out of power and another government came. In the last three years, the current government was supposed to deliver. They have not delivered. You raised the problem; now let the solutions start with you.
Gomes: As per the agreement, Fomento was supposed to screen and segregate the existing dump at the site. The site was given to them on February 2, 2010. They were supposed to start segregating the existing dump much before the plant could come up. On the February 22, the MMC chief officer writes a letter to Fomento saying that it has “not yet started segregating the existing dump, please do so at the earliest”. When Fomento still did not comply, the MMC went ahead and signed a concession agreement with them, although they were not complying. In this agreement again it was written that they will screen and segregate the existing dump at the site. In 2012, mysteriously they understand that the waste cannot be segregated. How did it take them two years to realize that it cannot be segregated?
Shridhar: First of all, whatever Adv Gomes said just now, is it really true that Panjim has solved the problem? Has anybody been to Patto? I don’t deny that Panjim is really successful. As far as the door-to-door collection in a segregated manner is concerned, Panjim is really successful. Do we have the mandate to do that? Does Fomento have the mandate to go to the doors and collect? No, it doesn’t have the mandate. As far as the plant is concerned, does Panjim have a plant? No, it doesn’t. Regarding the presence of heavy metals, we signed the concession agreement in 2011. In 2012, the physical possession of the site was handed to us. There was around 60,000 metric tonnes of garbage lying there at that time. Everybody knows that this cannot be done manually. The day we got possession of the land, we immediately placed the order for the machinery, which we got somewhere in August or September. The rains were not over by that time. We started segregating immediately after the rain subsided. I think the municipality also tendered for carting it away. What is the duty of Fomento? It’s only to segregate the garbage. What is the duty of the municipality? It’s to cart it away. You cannot segregate all 60,000 tonnes of garbage first and then cart it away.
Herald: If a mandate is not given, either the municipality needs to do it and keep the mandate with itself or they give it to the concessioner. For three years, the MMC cannot say that it will not do it, and Fomento Green has the right to say that the company does not have the mandate. Unless you do the segregated collection, segregated garbage will not come to your plant. Your plant will not function. So the responsibility is a two-way responsibility.
Shridhar: How exactly can it be tackled? One way is that garbage should be segregated at source. We have been trying to impress upon the authorities to outsource the door-to-door collection. We will also bid, and give us the first right to refuse. We are prepared. We are interested in a solution. What we require is a mandate.
Herald: Digambarbab, if the door-to-door collection is such a big issue, if the concessioner says that is willing to do it, why is it not given to them?
Kamat: If you allow outsourcing of garbage collection, the municipality will not incur any additional expenditure. Today they have engaged self-help groups, which are supposed to collect money from the people. That way it can be self-sufficient. We had recommended that since the municipality did not have that sort of capacity, it should call for bids and outsource the segregated collection.
Gomes: This statement of Mr Kamat is another scam in the making. When they submitted the technical bid to MMC, they said that they had expertise to process non-segregated or mixed waste. When they signed the concession agreement, it was written that they will segregate waste on their own. The machinery at the site is designed to segregate waste, so there is no need to segregate waste. In fact, the supply of bins to citizens to segregate waste is another scam. I’ll tell you why. As citizens we are asked to segregate waste, but when the waste is collected by MMC, it is all put together. So what is the purpose? Why are the bins required and why are the citizens asked to segregate?
Shridhar: As far as my plant is concerned, I invite people to visit it. We have machinery which is capable of segregating the waste. What we should understand is that if we segregate material at the plant, the non-biodegradable material cannot be recycled because it gets soiled. It has to go to the landfill, which is the costliest resource in a waste management plant. The load on the landfill has to be reduced. Whatever comes to the plant, I can always send the rejected material to the landfill. It won’t be added to the existing dump.
Herald: The door-to-door collection has not really happened. If Fomento is ready to do the collection and asked MMC to call for bids, why hasn’t MMC got its act together? If funds are the problem, has any accounting been done as to how much it will actually cost for collection on daily basis?
Sardesai: If it is self-sustaining, where is the question of taking funds from the MLA’s coffers? Secondly, there’s no such thing as the ‘MLA’s fund’.
Lourenco: The issue is once the garbage reaches the plant, the plant itself is not there. It is not there in the sense that the plant cannot process the work further. Why is cannot process further is what the municipality and Fomento should take up.
Herald: Fomento Green is saying that it has a plant. It needs segregated garbage so that the pressure on the landfill goes down. The MMC also realizes that door-to-door collection needs to be done, and then it turns around and says it does not have funds. There has to be a mid path.
Sardesai: Adv Gomes brought up the issue of mixed waste. Saying that they are going to treat mixed waste is actually unscientific and retrograde. We recommended to the municipality many times to outsource segregation. Adv Gomes may have a point that there is corruption in the outsourcing. What we are trying to do as a village is to have one party accountable. We can’t hold a hundred self-help groups accountable. Today, half of the garbage in my constituency is not being collected. People are willing to pay more, but nobody is coming forward. Who is to be held accountable? We want one guy and not a hundred people.
Herald: Does the municipality even have a blueprint or a presentation or a detailed plan of the door-to-door collection? If that is the case, present it to the people of Margao. Put it up on your website. Have you chalked out a path?
D’Silva: See, our door-to-door is still happening on a trial basis only. When we have enough infrastructure, then we will come to know these things. Very soon we will start outsourcing also.
Herald: Let’s take a few minutes to lay down and sum up your points. Reginald?
Lourenco: We have started door-to-door collection in a very small manner and we have partly seen that some societies are even ready to give segregated waste. If we start that properly in one or two wards, we can get a solution as far as segregated waste is concerned. Regarding the plant, I called for a High-Powered Committee meeting. We cannot take this lying down. People want an effective decision.
Herald: Let’s put a people’s deadline on outsourcing.
Lourenco: I am not for outsourcing. If accountability is there then we will do it, and if we are doing it, it should not be done free. Once it is outsourced it is considered to be tendered, so it is not to be done free.
Herald: Let’s put a deadline. September 1.
Lourenco: When you say September 1, all other agencies should also take responsibility.
Herald: Rajeev, your solutions.
Gomes: A solution can come only if we pack all our councillors in a Kadamba bus and send them to Panjim. I personally inspected each and every thing of Panjim’s waste disposal system.
Herald: So you’re saying there should be a Panjim tour for Margao councillors.
Gomes: Exactly. They need to just examine Panjim, learn its system and apply it over here. In 2003, the high court said to form garbage management committees, create zones as per the MSW rules. Till now they have not formed it. Immediately they have to categorize the constituency into garbage management zones and form garbage management committees. As per the concession agreement, there has to be a monitoring committee. This committee has been overruled by the high-powered committee. At the moment there is leachate flowing into the fields. Fomento is doing nothing about it. If the MMC cannot do capping – and I don’t see why MMC should be doing the capping – they can dig trenches around the entire dump and see that the leachate is diverted to some tank that can be treated. Vijay spoke about segregation. I know that’s the scientific way of doing it today. The people who were involved at the time of agreement did not have the knowledge. Now they have this knowledge. The plant is designed to treat non-segregated waste. Now they want to blame the citizens for not giving segregated waste. If the citizens are giving segregated waste, is Fomento going to reduce the cost of the project? The plant over there is to treat non-segregated waste. The citizens will give non-segregated waste, but the plant which exists need not be kept there. Let them treat the segregated waste that is sent there and let them reduce the cost. When I went to the plant, there were just six or seven persons employed there, whereas Panjim has almost hundreds.
Herald: As far as segregation is concerned, why can’t we agree to the fact that we will give segregated waste?
Gomes: We will give segregated waste. Let MMC create some mechanism by which they take segregated waste from the household to the plant. And why has the MMC failed to create composting units in big colonies? Panjim has 130 composting units.
Herald: Rajeev, as far as your agenda is concerned, you’re saying segregated waste will be given, but the MMC has to ensure that the mechanism is set up to collect segregated waste and carry it to the plant. Coming to the Curchorem MLA, what is your solution?
Cabral: Whatever help you require from the government, I am there. Somewhere down the line, if they feel that they require my support, I can adopt two wards on my part and I will help them in collecting, segregating and delivering to Fomento. At least let Fomento do the collection. Leave the municipality. If the citizens are ready to segregate, I don’t see any reason why Fomento should not take up the collection.
Herald: But MMC has to give them the mandate.
Cabral: The mandate is a small thing. They can issue it tomorrow.
Gomes: As per the agreement, there is a clause which states that if the MMC does not supply MSW to them, they can do it themselves and recover the cost from the council. That mandate is already given.
Herald: Let us look at Mr Cabral’s offer in the right perspective. Let us deliberate if someone is willing to offer solutions. I feel that more than his function as Curchorem MLA, it is very important for you to impress upon your government that Margao cannot be neglected any further. Let the government realize that this is a priority because there are three MLAs, three constituencies, and it is the heart of South Goa. It’s important to treat Margao well because we know what can happen if the people of South Goa get upset. If all the MLAs are in agreement, maybe you can be the intermediary between the MLAs and the government.
Cabral: I have absolutely no problem. I will be the intermediary with the government and panchayat. The MLAs might feel I want to stand for elections in Margao in the future, which I don’t want to do. It is better that I interact with the municipality directly. If there is anything I will do it.
Herald: Arthur, coming to your three minutes, and yours is the most important three minutes of this debate. We need to know what’s going to happen by September 1.
D’Silva: Regarding the capping, see that is not capping, just covering with the plastic. Secondly, we had also treated the leachate. Thirdly, whatever requirements I had sent to the government, if they give me everything I can solve the matter within one-and-a-half months.
Herald: So what are you looking for now? Funds?
D’Silva: We require at least seven to eight compactors, trucks, labour.
Herald: Are you willing to set up a dedicated cell to monitor the garbage issue on a weekly basis, with representatives of the people? Are you planning to do that, because talking will not help? MMC has to commit to the people that it will have a transparent mechanism.
D’Silva: Yes, we’re going to form a cell. I’ll discuss it with the councillors and sort it out.
Herald: Arthur, are you at the very earliest willing to convene a special meeting of the council where people are also going to be present to ensure that these deliveries are done? Don’t discuss with the council, discuss with the people. You don’t have a choice. These deadlines have to be kept. Ensure that this is a one-point agenda. Set up a solid waste management cell immediately, and as Rajeev suggested, in every ward have a particular committee to monitor it. And as Digambarbab said, ultimately there should be a proper reporting system. What does it take for you as an elected chairperson to promise this?
D’Silva: I have to also take the councillors into confidence for that. I cannot give you wrong information. Give me some time and then I will discuss it. If the government gives me all the requirements, then I will get everything cleared. I’ll also send you a copy of the requirements.
Kamat: As far as collection of garbage is concerned, people in Margao have accepted that they have to give segregated garbage. Self-help groups are collecting from various houses. Suddenly for three or four days they disappear. Then there is a problem. Otherwise everybody pays `1 per day. If MMC does not have a proper mechanism to collect garbage, they should fix up one agency and make it accountable. Secondly, once segregation is done, they will require compactors and trucks to carry that segregated garbage. That they must have. Today they are collecting the garbage separately, but putting everything in the same vehicle. That is possible before September 1.
Sardesai: I would like to actually look for solutions. We’re not agreeing that we need accountability of one agency. We’re talking about committees. When committees come, the agencies go. I’m talking about one agency. We have to be committed to reviving the same plant that exists, not to replace it with something else. The plant that is coming up at Saligao cost `140 crore. It is a BOT plant for which the government pays a grant of `29.90 crore per year. In ten years it will be `299 crore for that plant, which will be digesting 100 metric tonnes of garbage a day. The technology that is being used by this plant is given by three foreign countries to a government which believes in ‘Make in India’. The promoter, SMC Infrastructure, is an experienced sewage contractor, not a garbage contractor. He has no experience in garbage. I challenge Nilesh Cabral to tell me where SMC Infrastructure is running a garbage treatment plant. Comex, which Mr Kamat talked about, had come for `2 crore. It was Norwegian technology. They ran away. Who knows what SMC is going to do? Who says they’re not going to run away? And who says you are going to be in power in 10 years? In 10 years the BJP will disappear. Secondly, the tipping fee for the new plant is being charged at `1,562 per tonne in addition to transportation and handling. This is not a question of party politics. This is about `500 crore of exchequer’s money. We are talking about the Fomento plant of `7.5 crore for 25 years. This plant should be revived. You put conditions on Fomento, you put conditions on the municipality. If Mr Cabral wants to get the garbage collected, you outsource the garbage collection to Mr Cabral. I’ll go a little further. You make Mr Cabral the urban development minister. When we ask the question in the Assembly, I’m sure Mr Cabral won’t even support me there.
Cabral: As I have already promised, whatever help is required from the government I will personally monitor. Let us do an inventory. Whatever Arthur wants from us, I will put it forward.
Herald: There are two or three issues on which Fomento needs to answer. First is the door-to-door collection which you feel you do not have a mandate. Will you seize the mandate, ensure that it is given to you and are you willing to start it immediately? Secondly, as far as the scientific capping is concerned, what initiatives have you taken or will you take that capping happens? Number three is the problem of leachate, and I think not only the groundwater here, but it is getting polluted right up to Maina- Curtorim. Wells are getting completely polluted. It is become a serious human issue.
Shridhar: If you go right through the minutes of the high-powered committee meeting till the monitoring committee’s sub-committee meetings, we have been requesting and trying to impress upon the authorities to please outsource it with the right to refuse. This is generally done all over the country. This is the story of the last three years or so. I already said that I don’t have a mandate. As far as the scientific capping is concerned, if one again goes through the minutes of the high-powered committee meeting – somewhere in April 2013 – Fomento Green was told to hand over the premises, where the dump exists, to the municipality. It was an instruction given to us by the high-powered committee and we handed it back. Thirdly, if we are looking at various simple and immediate and temporary solutions for the leachate flow, let me be very frank about it, it is not possibly. When it rains, it rains nearly four inches per day. Given the catchment area, the water that flows in lakhs of litres of water and it mixes with the leachate. The best option immediately is to cover it so that you minimize the damage. If you’re looking for an immediate solution, I would say only a miracle can do it. I’m not giving you exact figures, suppose 1.5 ppm is the permissible limit of lead, and when you find 154 ppm, which part of Margao will accept this? The only solution is to go for scientific closure of it on the lines of Gorai.
Herald: Whose responsibility is it?
Shridhar: Obviously the municipality. Again, it is not my mandate. I have only three suggestions to make.
One thing is my plant is a working plant for the last two-and-a-half years. Please help us to construct the landfill, let us minimize the load on the landfill. This is number one. Number two: go for outsourcing of door-to-door. Number three: go for scientific closure of the dump. These three things will solve the issue.
Herald: Regarding the scientific closure of the dump, Arthur, have you even deliberated about this? Is the municipality readily to scientifically cap the dump?
D’Silva: We had already sent a detailed project report to the government last year.
Kamat: In the Assembly, the urban development minister is on record saying the government has assured that once the report is technically approved, it will sanction them the required amount.
Gomes: It’s quite mysterious that Fomento came to know after two years that there were heavy metals.
I feel it is just a ploy to get out of the situation. If you cannot handle this waste, give it to someone else.
There are many people who can manage that waste. If Fomento does not have the expertise, let them get out of the place. Secondly, Fomento in all ways has failed in this project. They don’t have the landfill, they blamed the government, and the composting plant does not work. What is evidence of the non-functioning of the composting plant is you don’t have a composter. For four-and-a-half years you run a plant and there is no compost. There’s just a small mound of compost; I’ve seen it personally.
Shridhar: I think that Adv Gomes has done a lot of study and in the process he is making a lot of baseless accusations. In a language which Adv Gomes will understand, I only have to say that I do not agree with his suggestions.
Herald: People are saying that scientific capping will not work. There is a general consensus that if you cap it scientifically, progress will not be made.
Gomes: This waste has not been there for a long time actually. Goa Foundation, when it was running the plant there, removed a lot of waste. If Goa Foundation could do it, I don’t see why Fomento can’t.
Herald: So you’re advocating removal of the entire waste from the area. Then where does it go?
Gomes: The non-biodegradable waste can be filled in a landfill. They have a landfill for it.
