MARGAO: Nearly six days after a fire broke out at the Sonsoddo garbage treatment plant, Margao Municipal Council (MMC) chief officer Agnelo Fernandes, in a circular issued on Thursday, directed hotels, restaurants and business establishments generating wet waste to apply for consent to operate from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
Fernandes said the GSPCB approval is necessary as “it may take three months to normalise Sonsoddo waste treatment plant”.
With bioremediation of the legacy dump at Sonsoddo that was discontinued over a year ago yet to restart, and MMC failing to take any steps to restart operations at the waste treatment plant, sources said the civic body’s latest circular is only a pointer towards its failure to get its act together.
“This circular is not justified. Why should business establishments suffer because of the lethargy and negligence of the MMC?” Savio Coutinho of the Shadow Council for Margao said.
In July 2021, GSPCB had sounded a grim prognosis of the Sonsoddo waste treatment plant while advising MMC to put in place measures to tackle the waste management issues.
At a presentation to MMC councillors on July 3, environmental engineer Sanjeev Joglekar had said that while setting up a 50TPD (tonnes per day) capacity biomethanation plant at Sonsoddo was the ultimate solution for Margao’s solid waste management woes, outsourcing the task of handling incoming wet waste to an experienced private agency would help as a short-term measure. Eight months later there has been no change. Worse still, with no adequate space to dump incoming daily waste, it finds its way onto the legacy dump.
Though the municipality’s trucks lift garbage on a daily basis, the inadequate space inside the Sonsoddo waste yard worsens the situation as the trucks are compelled to dump the waste on the legacy dump.
At the presentation, GSPCB had pointed out that with the current pace and method of treatment of wet waste at Sonsoddo, it could only lead to the creation of another mountain of residual waste, thereby nullifying all efforts of clearing the legacy dump.
Fernandes said the GSPCB approval is necessary as “it may take three months to normalise Sonsoddo waste treatment plant”.
With bioremediation of the legacy dump at Sonsoddo that was discontinued over a year ago yet to restart, and MMC failing to take any steps to restart operations at the waste treatment plant, sources said the civic body’s latest circular is only a pointer towards its failure to get its act together.
“This circular is not justified. Why should business establishments suffer because of the lethargy and negligence of the MMC?” Savio Coutinho of the Shadow Council for Margao said.
In July 2021, GSPCB had sounded a grim prognosis of the Sonsoddo waste treatment plant while advising MMC to put in place measures to tackle the waste management issues.
At a presentation to MMC councillors on July 3, environmental engineer Sanjeev Joglekar had said that while setting up a 50TPD (tonnes per day) capacity biomethanation plant at Sonsoddo was the ultimate solution for Margao’s solid waste management woes, outsourcing the task of handling incoming wet waste to an experienced private agency would help as a short-term measure. Eight months later there has been no change. Worse still, with no adequate space to dump incoming daily waste, it finds its way onto the legacy dump.
Though the municipality’s trucks lift garbage on a daily basis, the inadequate space inside the Sonsoddo waste yard worsens the situation as the trucks are compelled to dump the waste on the legacy dump.
At the presentation, GSPCB had pointed out that with the current pace and method of treatment of wet waste at Sonsoddo, it could only lead to the creation of another mountain of residual waste, thereby nullifying all efforts of clearing the legacy dump.