The Times of India 29.01.2010
MMC writes to DMA for funds to set up biomedical waste plant
MARGAO: With the Sonsoddo imbroglio heading towards a solution, following the decision to award the tender for setting up the garbage treatment plant to Fomento, the Margao municipal council (MMC) appears to have now turned its attention to tackling the problem of biomedical waste in the city.
The MMC has now written to the director of municipal administration (DMA) seeking funds to the tune of Rs 87 lakh for setting up a facility for treatment of biomedical waste and purchase of new garbage compactors. Of this, Rs 40 lakh has been sought for the biomedical waste treatment project, while Rs 47 lakh has been estimated to be the cost of two garbage compactors.
The latest proposal of the MMC is in accordance with a resolution passed by the MMC at its council meeting held in November 2009. “There are around 30 hospitals/nursing homes, 250 clinics and dispensaries being operated in the jurisdiction of the MMC and they generate 300 to 400 kilos of biomedical waste. Most of this waste is found dumped in the municipal bins, which creates difficulties in the final disposal of the waste. The MMC is interested in collecting and disposing this waste separately and making a provision for biomedical waste disposal facilities at Sonsoddo,” the proposal submitted by the MMC to DMA reads. The MMC’s proposal is however silent on how it has arrived at the cost of Rs 40 lakh.
With regard to the garbage compactors, the MMC has enclosed a quotation of a Pune-based company that has tagged the price of a rear loader compactor at Rs 23,49,000 each. While the new compactors will be utilized for the proposed exercise of door-to-door collection of waste, the existing garbage trucks will be used for collecting biomedical waste, the proposal states. MMC sources said that the council was looking at the feasibility of setting up a common centralized biomedical waste disposal facility in the city to be managed by the MMC.
Setting up of such a plant was a pet task of MMC chief Savio Coutinho soon after he took office. Though kept on the backburners ever since, the MMC has reserved some 200 sq m of land at Sonsoddo for the same.
