MARGAO
Development of SGPDA’s sprawling grounds for vehicular parking has brought back the bitter memories how the Margao Municipal Council had disposed of the waste from the Sonsodo legacy dump in flagrant violation of the environmental norms around two decades ago.
Labourers engaged in the construction work on the PDA ground to pave way for a retaining wall has unearthed tons of plastic waste lying barely a metre and half under the ground. These labourers, sources say were initially taken aback to find the plastic waste lying underneath the PDA ground, but realization soon dawned that the plastic waste was dumped by the Margao Municipal Council as a means to dispose of the Sonsodo waste and to fill up the low-lying PDA acquired area admeasuring 15,000 square metres.
Those were the days when the Margao Municipal Council had no wherewithal to handle the daily waste or the legacy dump which was fast turning saturated. Instances of fire engulfing the Sonsodo dump were not uncommon then. MMC’s brief experiment with Komex company had just ended in a fiasco and the MMC was grappling with the huge problem of disposal of the legacy dump to create space to accommodate the daily waste generated in the commercial capital.
It was at this juncture, the MMC had resorted to a novel way to cart away the legacy dump at the PDA ground, transporting thousands of tons from Sonsodo to the Old Market area for days together, ignoring protests from residents.
While the novel exercise had helped MMC officials and ruling civic body to create huge space at Sonsodo, the effect of the weird decision is there for all to see around two decades later. The plastic waste dumped under the PDA ground is lying as it is, only confirming that it takes decades for the plastic bags to decompose, contributing to the environmental degradation.
Presently, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) is on the job to bio-remediate the Sonsodo legacy dump, believed to have accumulated waste of the last half a century.
GWMC Managing Director, Levinson Martins said: “The GWMC is disposing of the thousands of tons of waste at the Sonsodo legacy dump via bio-remediation. The exercise will not only rid Sonsodo of the waste and an eyesore but will help reclaim the prime land at Sonsodo for future development on the waste management front”.
Martins said he has no idea of the thousands of tons of plastic waste lying dumped under the SGPDA parking grounds. He, however, hastened to warn that disposal of plastic waste in an unscientific manner will only leave the environment polluted and degraded, reminding that it takes decades for the plastic waste to decompose.
