Margao continues to grapple with waste crisis

Margao: Exactly a week after Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai visited the Margao municipality and directed the municipal authorities to put in place measures to mitigate Margao’s garbage woes, there has been no change in the situation as the town continues to battle the garbage crisis.

Asking MMC chief officer Siddhivinayak Naik to initiate the process of setting up two bio-methanation plants in the town by Monday, Sardesai had warned of “action” against MMC on Tuesday if they failed to do so.

Three days after the deadline, municipal sources informed that there has been no progress on the front whatsoever.

Naik, when contacted, admitted that the proposal for setting up two bio-methanation plants in Margao is pending with the directorate of municipal administration (DMA), but declined to provide any further information.

Sources, however, said the government has been considering setting up bio-methanation plants in various towns, including Vasco, Ponda, Mapusa and Sakhali, through a centralised procurement system, and the modalities were being worked out.

MMC is also yet to make any headway in setting up baling machines at six different spots across the town.

Meanwhile, MMC is yet to succeed in getting adequate workforce to handle the task of garbage collection and disposal. “I am getting several calls from residents of my ward complaining that sanitary workers haven’t turned up for collection of garbage,” a councilor rued.