By Marcellus D’Souza

Apr 23: Calangute a popular holiday destination in North Goa which attracts tourists from India as well as abroad, made the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the weekend.

Villagers of Orda, Saipem, Candolim and Calangute had to inhale foul smell and air pollution from the Saligao Waste Treatment Plant (SWTP). The SWTP is operated by the Hindustan Waste Treatment Pvt. Ltd.

The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) in a memorandum submitted to the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC), said “locals around are suffering due to failure of the management in operation of Solid Waste Management Plant. A copy of the memorandum has also been sent to the Waste Management Minister and Goa State Pollution Control Board.

Premanand Diukar, president of CCF said, “From 6 pm to 10 pm, the stink is unbearable. People cannot even eat their food. When the plant was being installed here, we were told that we could come anytime and hold a picnic at the plant site. But the stink continues to be a big worry.”

A delegation of the CCF met the solid waste management plant manager and handed a memorandum urging him to find an early solution to the air pollution caused by the waste treated at the plant. The delegation visited the plant site of putrid odour emanating from the treatment plant was creating unhygienic conditions in the nearby villages and causing a lot of distress to the residents around.

“As a result, air pollution took place and the foul smell started travelling across the residential areas of nearby villages affecting the health of people,” Diukar said.

The state-of-the-art waste treatment plant was initially set up with a capacity to treat garbage of 100 tonnes per day. When th plant was being set up, it was said that waste of only coastal villages would be treated at the plant but subsequently, waste of entire North Goa was brought to the plant resulting in the piling of untreated garbage around the plant site. Recently, the capacity of the waste treatment plant was increased to 250 tonnes per day.
Diukar said the CCF had filed a complaint with the plant authorities in 2019 but the management of the facility failed to resolve the issue as the stink continued to haunt the locals.

“We were assured no foul smell will be generated and air pollution will be controlled through modern technology, but it looks like the technology has failed,” the CCF president added. The CCF has requested the authorities to look into the matter on priority with seriousness in the interest of Environment Protection and to safeguard human life.

Calangute is represented by Michael Lobo, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly.

The state-of-the-art Solid Waste Management plant is fully automated except for the sorting of dry waste which is a manual process. Mixed waste is dumped first onto the tipping floor and is then carried by a conveyor belt where manual monitoring and sorting is performed by trained workers.

Following segregation, various waste categories are provided with further treatment. . The plant is capable of treating 100 tonnes of waste per day and in addition to solid waste management generates power. The plant is also generating compost and also treats effluents so as to use this recycled water for gardening and other non-drinking purposes.

The full plant is controlled and monitored via a SCADA system and CCTV Cameras. Biomethanation technology is included as part of the processes, which generates more than sufficient energy to power the entire plant as well as a surplus, which can provide a solution to the power crisis. Overall, it was a very enlightening and learning experience in the field of solid waste treatment.