The bio-methanation plant at the SGPDA market complex.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Is the Margao Municipal Council’s 5TPD bio-menthation plant functioning as per the intended capacity? Why is the area in and around the plant enveloped by foul odour? How much power has been generated by the bio-methanation plant till date, how much has been utilized to illuminated the SGPDA market and how much power has been sold to the grid? Is the plant operating as per the set design and is the slurry disposed of as per the laid down norms?
These and other questions have come to the fore after Fatorda MLA and Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai paid a visit to the bio-methantion plant at the SGPDA market on Monday.
As he was greeted with foul odour and after he saw for himself how slurry is being stored in a tank, raising fears of mosquito breeding, the Fatorda MLA was quick to demand a second audit of the bio-methanation plant by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
That a panel had in the past conducted an audit and had raised a host of questions over the functioning of the Plant, Sardesai has demanded that GSPCB official Sanjeev Joglekar lead the team to conduct the audit.
“I had visited Solapur in Maharashtra to see the functioning of bio-methanation plants. There I could not sense any odour and the plants were working as per the laid down norms. Here, the situation appears different. There’s foul odour in the entire locality. This is unacceptable when the SGPDA is playing host to market and eateries, posing health hazard to the people”, he said.
Questioning the lack of action from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the matter, Sardesai said the FDA , the Urban Development department, Margao Municipal Council and the SGDPA all come under the portfolios of Minster Vishwajit Rane, demanding that the Minster should take note of the functioning of the bio-methanation plant.
“Every time, the Sonsodo issue comes before the High Court, the Margao Municipality makes a mention of the bio-methanation plant, saying the plant is treating 4TPD of waste. But, the ground reality appears different. It is in the fitness of things that the GSPCB conduct an audit of the bio-methanation plant before things go out of control”, he demanded.
