the goan I network
PANAJI
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday called out the Saligao Waste Treatment Plant (SWTP) for not resolving the state’s garbage issues as Goans had hoped.
AAP said that the plant was “failing in its job” despite the fact that it was sophisticated and had all sorts of machinery to treat waste.
Speaking for the party, Dean D’Cruz, member of the monitoring committee on behalf of Saligao Civic Consumer Cell and Goa Foundation, said that after a visit to the plant around two weeks ago, there was enough evidence to show that the plant was failing. “Even the 55000 tonnes of waste, that was originally there at Saligao where the treatment plant has now come up, has not been cleared. Of this original quantity, only around 10000 tonnes has been cleared,” explained D’Cruz while expressing sadness over the state of affairs at the SWTP.
D’Cruz enumerated all the problems the SWTP was facing including the failure of baling the garbage. Balers are supposed to compact waste into blocks to reduce the volume of the garbage.
Talking about the unsegregated waste that was coming in that was difficult to segregate at the plant, D’Cruz explained, while addressing the press, that the running of the plant was not going as per plan. “This is not the way to be treating garbage in Goa,” D’Cruz said. “Plastic, paper, metal - everything is completely dirty. The garbage received by the plant is unsegregated, and is smelling complete.”
Proposing a solution to this problem, D’Cruz said that what would help was if waste came into the plant only after being segregated. “Now that the plant is set up,” he said, “The only way out is to have segregated waste coming into the plant.”
He also expressed that he didn’t think it was a good idea to try and treat more garbage at the plant than was currently being treated, as is proposed. Saying that 200 tonnes of waste per day instead of the present 100 tonnes would add to the catastrophe.
Another problem that persists is that of RDF- garbage that cannot be dealt with that is sent to cement plants outside of Goa to be burnt at very high temperatures. The SWTP used to send this garbage to a plant in Karnataka. However, since January this year, Karnataka has not been accepting RDF garbage from Goa. When the AAP asked for information under RTI around 5 months ago, about where this garbage was going, no information was forthcoming. However, on inspection of the plant, members found one truck being loaded with garbage that was to go to the ACC/ Ambuja Cement Plant in Chattisgarh at the cost of Rs 50000 per truck.
While explaining that the garbage plant in Vengurla treats close to the amount of garbage being treated at SWTP, D’Cruz pointed out that the cost of garbage treatment at Vengurla was one tenth the amount that Goa was spending. Besides this, the Vengurla plant produces valuable compost that can be used for plants, while the story in Goa was different. “We have tried the compost from SWTP at our homes, and it had no nutritional value,” said D’Cruz. “The compost is full of dry fibres, glass pieces, and shreds of plastic”
Furthermore, a visit to the 5 meter high composting shed at SWTP shed light on the fact that garbage was spilling over from the top windows, that the garbage hadn’t been sorted out properly and that at present, no compost was being produced.
While in Vengurla, recycled plastic was being sold at Rs 8 per kg, the same quantity was not even selling for 50 paise in Goa due to the filth, alleged D’Cruz.
Convenor of the AAP in Goa, Elvis Gomes, said that instead of the centralised system of waste collection that is currently in place, where waste is being sent directly to the SWTP, the government should involve local bodies for the segregation process. “The local panchayats and municipalities must be involved in segregation so that things can go more smoothly at the SWTP,” said Gomes.
