Civic body may have to bear cost of slurry transportation to Cacora
The Bio-methanation plant at SGPDA retail market.
MARGAO
When the 5TPD bio-methanation plant was commissioned with much fanfare exactly two years ago in November 2021, the project proponent had made a tall claim that the project would generate revenue to the tune of Rs three lakh per month for the Margao Municipal Council.
Leave alone generating revenue, which has not materialized till date, the bio-methanation plant may soon be a drain on the Margao Municipal treasury, but for a different reason. With the Margao Municipal Council writing to the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) to allow the civic body to treat the slurry generated by the bio-methantion plant at the Cacora waste management plant, sources said the MMC may be left with no option than to bear the cost of transportation of the slurry to Cacora.
For, the PWD has refused to accept the slurry generated by the Bio-methanation plant either at the Margao Sewage treatment plants or the STP at Vasco. And, with the bio-menthanation plant coming under the scanner of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for allegedly discharging the slurry in the adjoining fields, the burden of handling the slurry, sources say, now lies on the Margao Municipal Council.
In fact, when the media questioned the personnel manning the bio-methanation plant the SGPDA retail market on the discharge of slurry, they replied point blank saying it is the responsibility of the civic body to dispose of and treat the slurry.
A Municipal official in private informed that the Margao Municipality will have to bear the cost of transportation of the slurry from Margao to the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) at the Cacora waste management plant in the event the MMC proposal finds acceptability with the GWMC. “We are working out the cost of transportation of the slurry from Margao to Cacora and the financial implications for the civic body”, informed a Municipal engineer.
As the stage is set for the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar to appear before the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) Member Secretary and file a compliance report, if any on the directions issued by the Board, questions may come to the fore whether the bio-methanation plant may finally turn out a liability for the civic body.
For, when the plant was commissioned two years ago, tall claims were made that the civic body would earn Rs 10,000 per day from the sale of electricity generated by the Plant. Till date, however, the power generated by the plant was never tapped to earn revenue with the civic body only writing a letter to the Power department to purchase the power to the grid.
