By Marcellus D’Souza
Apr 26: Michael Lobo, Leader of the Opposition, MLA from Calangute and former Waste Management Minister has said he has tried his level best to solve the issue of Sonsoddo dumping grounds. The politicians have to first agree to bring a settlement to the issues that Sonsoddo face.
Lobo said he had even put the recommendations on the fast track but did not succeed because of vested interest and change of government. He himself had switched parties from the BJP to the Congress.
“The four MLAs should sit with CM Pramod Sawant and ask for “a high powered Committee to arrive at a solution”, emphasised Lobo.
In the recent past the Sonsoddo dump has caught fire twice. The massive fire triggered anxiety amongst locals. Fire officials cited short-circuit of a 33 KV high tension line passing above the dump area as the cause of fire, which further got intensified due to presence of presence of methane gas under the waste heap.
It took almost six to seven hours to extinguish the fire. Fire tenders from Margao, besides, Ponda, Cuncolim, Curchorem and Verna were called to douse the fire. Deputy Collector, South Prasad Volvoikar besides Chief Officer, Margao Municipal Council Agnelo Fernandes, Chairperson Lyndon Pereira rushed to the site upon being informed about the fire.
Although, Sonsoddo finds mentions in the manifestos of most candidates who contested the Assembly polls nothing concrete has been done to solve the Sonsoddo issue, now that the elections are a thing of the past.
The Sonsoddo landfill site has a history of fire outbreaks. Yet no solution has been found or is there a solution in sight to deal with this vexed issue. The blame game continues amongst the concerned departments and politicians.
The fire brought back memories of the previous blaze that engulfed the area in May 2019. On Monday, May 27, 2019, the Sonsoddo waste treatment plant and dump in the city of Margao caught fire. The flames were as tall as an eight-storey building. The Mumbai-based firm Tranquiil Speciality Products (TSP) Pvt Ltd stepped in to use an enzyme to stop methane formation at the site and control the fire.
The spontaneous combustion at Sonsoddo was caused due to the continuous bacterial activity that was going on there, as wet waste was mixed with the dry at the site, due to non-segregation of waste at the source.
People are facing the brunt of this problem, as the garbage keeps on moving in from the surrounding villages. The state government had handed the task of solid waste management to ‘Fomento Green’, a private limited firm. However, fool-proof arrangements were still awaited to provide a solution to the garbage mount.
It was rumoured in 2019, prior to the General Elections, the inferno at Sonsoddo appeared to be a stunt enacted to the enforce the long-pending demand by residents to the local MLAs to shift the dumping yard away from the commercial capital of Goa.
The Sonsoddo dump a hillside that has collected waste from Goa’s commercial capital for years. Seventy per cent of the waste collected is being thrown back into the Sonsoddo dump.