Officials blame logistics for waste pile-up in shed; cite vehicle repair and maintenance as another reason
The piled up dry waste inside the dry waste shed which was engulfed by the massive fire.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council owes an explanation how come the dry waste shed housing the baling machines played host to a waste mound when dry waste is being transported to the Cacora waste treatment plant?
This question indeed assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the MMC has virtually stopped the treatment of both wet and dry waste, as the civic body transports the daily waste to the Cacora plant for treatment.
Around 15 tons of dry waste, mostly comprising of plastic waste, is generated every day in the commercial capital on an average. The MMC has deployed trucks to transport the dry waste to Cacora by making around 3-5 trips on an average per day.
Ask Margao Municipal officials to shed light on the dry waste mound inside the shed and they too agree that the dry waste is sent regularly to the Cacora plant.
Sources, however, attributed the dry waste pile up inside the waste shed to the issue of logistics, including transportation and baling strips required to bale the waste.
If officials are to be believed the waste transportation faced some hiccups after the pick-up vehicles had to undergo repairs and maintenance.
That’s not all. Officials recalled how the shortage of strips to bale the dry waste had brought all baling operations to a halt around two months ago. “The Council should take cognisance of the issues plaguing the transportation and baling of the dry waste. Timely supply of baling strips and repairs and maintenance of the vehicles will help streamline the transportation of waste and avoid pile up of waste,” the official added.
Mystery surrounds fire as officer rules out accidental causes
MARGAO: Fire Officer Gill D’Souza has said the fire brigade cannot give any reason behind the fire at Sonsodo since the fire is suspicious in nature.
He said the electrical fittings at the shed were all intact, thus ruling out the possibility of short circuit behind the incident.
What, however, has taken aback the Fire Officer and the fire personnel were the fact that the shed was engulfed by fire on all sides. “This cannot happen in a natural or accidental fire. When we reached the site, there was fire seen at 2-3 places inside the shed. This has only raised suspicions on the cause behind the fire,” he said, adding that it is for other government agencies to probe into the exact cause behind the incident.
He added: “How come there was fire at the side on all sides. The shed was only housing dry waste and not wet waste which generates methane gas. But, there’s no methane gas in the shed to fuel the fire. All these questions have raised doubts over the fire incident.”
