With Sonsodo coming under the High Court scanner, the waste dumping site witnessed a flurry of activity on Thursday, with the Margao Municipal Council and the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) mobilising men and machinery to put things in place.
If Margao Municipal Chief Officer Rohit Kadam along with Municipal officials descended at the Sonsodo plant in the morning, GWMC officials made their presence at the legacy dump by evening.
After the High Court hearing earlier this week, the Margao Municipal Council has a task cut out to avoid being hauled up by the court – to lift away the tonnes of dry and plastic waste dumping near the Sonsodo waste treatment plant site and to fix the roof of the Sonsodo shed, which has been craving for attention for the last two years.
When The Goan team visited Sonsodo on Thursday, the Municipality was engaged in the operation to load waiting trucks with dry waste for transportation to the Saligao waste treatment plant. With the MMC baling the daily dry and plastic waste generated in the city inside the plant, the dry waste lying in and around the plant is now in the process of being transported to the Saligao waste plant.
While a couple of trucks-laden with dry waste had headed to the Saligao plant, another five trucks were expected to leave Sonsodo on early Friday.
Chief Officer Rohit Kadam has issued strict instructions to the officials handling Sonsodo plant to ensure that things are expedited and the dry waste is shifted to the Saligao plant on priority.
That’s not all. After neglecting the need to repair the Sonsodo waste treatment plant shed roof, which was damaged during the rains two years ago, the civic body is now on the job to repair the shed.
Sources said the MMC tried to fix the shed roof on Wednesday with a crane, but in vain after the crane could not reach the rooftop. Given the situation, the MMC roped in a heavy duty crane on Thursday to execute the job, but the crane could not reach the Sonsodo plant on account of the slippery condition of the road. To tide over the problem, the MMC requisitioned the services of another crane, to push the first crane to the plant site. “We have planned to repair the waste treatment plant site by tomorrow,” informed an official.
The Goan understands that around 50 roof sheets have been in a damaged state since the last two years, causing water seepage during the monsoons. In fact, MMC garbage workers had been complaining of the slippery condition of the shed on account of water entering the plant via the damaged roof.
