Sewage chamber near KTC bus stand locked PWD, Sewerage department has refused to accept waste at Sewerage Treatment Plant for disposal
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Every time, the Sonsodo imbroglio comes up for hearing in the High Court in the Public Interest Petition (PIL) on disposal of waste generated in the commercial capital, the Margao Municipal Council is quick in making a submission that around 5TPD of waste is being treated at the bio-methanation plant set up at the SGPDA market and the balance transported to the Saligao waste treatment plant.
Whether or not the 5TPD Plant is actually treating the daily wet waste or the plant is running below its installed capacity has been a subject matter of debate in the corridors of the civic body for long now. What, however, may now cause concern and alarm for the Sonsodo waste handlers is the emerging ground reality – that the 5TPD plant is under lock and key for the moment.
In fact, when The Goan visited the plant in the SGPDA market on Monday to find out the amount of wet waste treated at the site, the treatment plant was found locked. Neither any workers were seen around nor waste found stacked at the site.
Inquiries have only revealed that the plant has been lying in a state of shut down for the last couple of days over the contentious issue of the disposal of the digestate slurry generated during the treatment process. Reason: The 16,000 litre slurry tank is full to its capacity as a result of which the plant is coming in the way of the smooth conduct of the waste treatment operations.
With the slurry accumulated at the plant and the Margao Municipal Council struggling to dispose off the same, operation of the plant has been shut for want of disposal of the slurry. Sources further informed that the waste delivered at the plant for treatment has since been transported to the Sonsodo plant for disposal.
Further inquiries have revealed that the disposal of the slurry from the bio-methanation plant has hit a road block after the PWD, Sewerage department has refused to accept the waste at the Sewerage Treatment plant (STP) for disposal. In the past, the MMC was disposing off the slurry at the sewage chamber near the KTC bus stand. The chamber, however, now stands locked, leaving the civic body with no option than to transport the slurry to the STP plant at Sirvodem-Margao.
A MMC official told The Goan that an Assistant engineer of the PWD, Sewerage has point blank refused to accept the slurry from the bio-methanation plant on the plea that the waste does not gel well with the sewerage treatment process. With the slurry accumulating at the site, and no solution forthcoming in respect of the disposal of the waste, the plant operator has been left with no option than to temporarily shut down the plant.
A senior MMC official told The Goan that the civic body will now knock the doors of the Sewerage treatment plant, Vasco to explore the possibility of disposing off the slurry generated at the bio-methanation plant.
Sadly, officials manning the Vasco STP plant have on Monday evening point blank told the MMC officials that the office has received strict instructions from higher ups not to accept slurry or leachate in the STP plant. “We do not know how to go about the matter. Senior MMC officials will have to take a call on how to address the slurry issue,” remarked a civic staffer.
The 5TPD bio-methanation plant has been shut down at a time when the MMC is struggling to dispose off the daily wet waste. In fact, the MMC had been making submissions to the High Court of the total wet waste generated in the city, 5TPD waste is being disposed off at the bio-methanation plant, while the balance 30 metric tons of wet waste was being transported to the Saligao waste treatment plant.
After the latest High Court directions issued last week, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has been told to transport 20TPD wet waste to the Cacora plant and the balance 10TPD waste to the Saligao plant.