Margao Municipal CO ALSO asked to submit compliance REPORT on capping fires and smoke
the goan I network
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council finds itself in deep trouble over the continuous fires and smoke emanating from Sonsodo.
Not only has the Goa State Pollution Control Board told the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Ajit Panchwadkar to report compliance on capping the fires and smoke, but GSPCB Member Secretary Sharmila Monteiro has told the Civic body to deposit with the Board an amount of Rs one crore compensation within 15 days.
In a communique to the MMC Chief Officer, the GPSCB Member Secretary has warned of appropriate action in the event the MMC fails to submit compliance on the fire and smoke and deposit an amount of Rs 1.02 crore (to be precise) with the Board within 15 days.
Monteiro reminded the MMC about the directions issued by the GSPCB to the Civic body in August last – to deposit an amount of Rs one crore with the Board by way of compensation for the damage to the environment that was caused and will be subsequently spent by the Board for its restoration.
The latest GSPCB letter to the MMC comes in the wake of the Member Secretary receiving an e-mail stating that the fires and smoke continues to emanate from Sonsodo and that the MMC and the Chief Officer are doing nothing to cap the same.
The letter further assumes significance as far as compensation is concerned given that the MMC had resolved to challenge the directions issued to the civic body to pay a compensation of Rs one crore for restoration of the environment.
It may be recalled that the GSPCB had called on the Margao Municipal Council to deposit Rs one crore with the Board as compensation after a fire engulfed the Sonsodo dump yard for close to a week from May 25 last year, with the toxic smoke covering a large area in the neighbouring villages of Raia and Curtorim and the area adjoining the dump site.
Sonsodo also witnessed another fire incident in December last after the dump was engulfed by a raging fire when the Goa Waste Management Corporation contractor was carrying out a survey of the dump when a metal rod came in contact with a live 33KV high tension overheard wire at
the site.
Since then, minor fires and smoke emanating from the dump yard have literally been the order of the day, with the MMC dismissing the incidents as minor and the citizens raising concerns that the continuous discharge of smoke from the dump has posed a health hazard, especially to children studying in the nearby school.
