The Times of India 02.09.2009
MMC to select team for waste segregation, composting
MARGAO: With a delay in finalizing a private party for solid waste management at Sonsoddo, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has decided to put in
place a team of workers to conduct daily segregation and composting.
The council had pinned its hopes on the party that is chosen - IL&FS and Fomento or Ramky - to start work at the earliest. But with it now deciding to hand over the process of finalization to the government, it appears that some more time will lapse until the selection process zeroes on either of the parties to handle the project.
The council earlier had 25 workers at the dumpyard, but their services were discontinued in May this year owing to the completion of 240 days of labour. Had they continued working, they would have been eligible for absorption on a permanent basis. What followed thereafter was the monsoon, when the segregation of waste took a beating. There is an estimated 6,000-tonne of fresh unsegregated garbage accumulated at the site since the last month.
The MMC had also given an undertaking to the high court on a petition by the Goa Foundation that it would take adequate precaution to avoid pollution of ground water and also submitted a time-bound solution to sort out its garbage woes. The petition had also sought a time-bound solution to the Sonsoddo waste problem, but the council failed to meet the August 31 deadline to finalize one the two parties that have bid for the project.
"We have decided to appoint 20 workers on daily basis at Sonsoddo,'' council chairperson Savio Coutinho said. "They are trained workers and know their job and so it is always better to entrust them with the task for quicker and better results,'' said sanitary inspector of the council Viraj Arabekar.
Coutinho also pointed out that the council was working on outsourcing the task of door-to-door garbage segregation to a private party for four wards south of the railway track. For this, the council would have to seek the nod of its councillors. The population of the locality sought to be taken up under the pilot project has a total population of around 12,000 and is described as a "neglected area.''
The segregation at source process, that would greatly facilitate work at Sonsoddo for better composting of waste, is mandated under MSW rules 2000 and at present is being conducted at the electricity workers' colony and at the housing board, Gogol.
The council had pinned its hopes on the party that is chosen - IL&FS and Fomento or Ramky - to start work at the earliest. But with it now deciding to hand over the process of finalization to the government, it appears that some more time will lapse until the selection process zeroes on either of the parties to handle the project.
The council earlier had 25 workers at the dumpyard, but their services were discontinued in May this year owing to the completion of 240 days of labour. Had they continued working, they would have been eligible for absorption on a permanent basis. What followed thereafter was the monsoon, when the segregation of waste took a beating. There is an estimated 6,000-tonne of fresh unsegregated garbage accumulated at the site since the last month.
The MMC had also given an undertaking to the high court on a petition by the Goa Foundation that it would take adequate precaution to avoid pollution of ground water and also submitted a time-bound solution to sort out its garbage woes. The petition had also sought a time-bound solution to the Sonsoddo waste problem, but the council failed to meet the August 31 deadline to finalize one the two parties that have bid for the project.
"We have decided to appoint 20 workers on daily basis at Sonsoddo,'' council chairperson Savio Coutinho said. "They are trained workers and know their job and so it is always better to entrust them with the task for quicker and better results,'' said sanitary inspector of the council Viraj Arabekar.
Coutinho also pointed out that the council was working on outsourcing the task of door-to-door garbage segregation to a private party for four wards south of the railway track. For this, the council would have to seek the nod of its councillors. The population of the locality sought to be taken up under the pilot project has a total population of around 12,000 and is described as a "neglected area.''
The segregation at source process, that would greatly facilitate work at Sonsoddo for better composting of waste, is mandated under MSW rules 2000 and at present is being conducted at the electricity workers' colony and at the housing board, Gogol.
