Concerned citizens of Margao and Fatorda on Monday staged a silent dharna at the landfilling site near the district court building to protest and draw the attention of the High Court to the dumping of bio-remediated waste under the guise of dumping inert.
Armed with banners and placards, the protestors pointed out that the garbage dumped at the site for landfilling of the government property is nothing but mixed waste.
Coutinho pointed out that the citizens have drafted a petition to the High Court, to address that the direction issued to bio-remediate the Sonsodo legacy dump is being misused by dumping mixed waste.
He feared that unchecked dumping of mixed waste under the guise of inert will result in the contamination of the underground water table and the drinking water wells.
“We had a bitter experience around two decades ago when the then Margao Municipal Council dumped Sonsodo waste for landfilling of the SGPDA land in front of the district court building and wholesale fish market without realising that the exercise will pollute the environment. Even today, the plastic waste can be seen underneath the SGPDA ground,” he said.
The draft letter petition to the Chief Justice of the High Court by the citizens claimed that the Margao Municipal Council and the Goa Waste Management Corporation are destroying the environment and permanently causing pollution of the groundwater table, through the gross violation, misuse and misrepresentation of the directions of the court.
While appreciating the serious view of the High Court to the long pending Sonsodo legacy dump, the citizens have drawn the court’s attention to how the two authorities are misusing and misrepresenting the directives, thereby creating further environmental concerns.
Concerning the RDF material, so tagged by the authorities and the contractor, is presently lying at the Sonsodo dump yard, the citizens pointed out that an examination of this so-called RDF material would reveal that it does not classify to be RDF in any way, considering the presence of un-confirming types of waste within the so-called RDF material.
“The High Court examine whether genuine testing and analysis are done by the concerned authorities of the various components of the Bio Remediated waste before its shifting/dumping elsewhere and if proper precautions are taken to prevent any form of pollution of the environment or groundwater table,” the letter petition stated.
