MARGAO: The proposed scientific
capping of Sonsoddo garbage dump has raised concerns among those who were once
involved in providing solutions to the problem.
Solid waste management expert Joe
D'Souza, who was earlier on the Margao municipal council (MMC) panel to monitor
the garbage management exercise at Sonsoddo, has written to chief minister
Manohar Parrikar alleging a scam in the making and demanding a vigilance
inquiry in the matter.
In his letter to Parrikar,
D'Souza has raised questions regarding capping the existing garbage dump when
the project concessionaire was, in fact, tasked with treating the dump.
"I was surprised and shocked
to know that after years of tomfoolery by successive consultants and garbage
handling contractors, Sonsoddo garbage dump yard is sought to be capped. Why is
Ahmedabad-based consultant, PU Asnani, who earlier promised to end the garbage
woes of Margao by appointing a firm to involve itself in solid waste
management, incurring crores of rupees expenditure of Goa state funding, is now
offering a disastrous capping solution to the garbage woes of Margao," D'Souza
wrote to Parrikar.
D'Souza has urged Parrikar to
"put a full stop on an urgent basis to the mega scam involving the capping
of the Sonsoddo garbage by instituting a vigilance inquiry at your
earliest."
"The scandalous approach to
the garbage scam at Sonsoddo has to be exposed. As such, Asnani and the
Ahmedabad-based firm have collected consultancy fees to offer solid waste
management solution. Now that he has failed miserably, the untenable approach
of capping the Sonsoddo site is being sought instead of the garbage treatment
solution which was his task," D'Souza's letter adds, urging the chief
minister to "punish the guilty as it involves flushing off of public money
and endangering the lives of the residents of Margao."
D'Souza has also raised questions
over the efficacy of the capping exercise maintaining that scientific capping
is a "disastrous" solution for an unscientific landfill site.
"The landfill site at
Sonsoddo is totally unscientific. A scientific landfill is lined by impermeable
material consisting of various levels and only then garbage is dumped into it.
This ensures that the groundwater table is not contaminated. However, in the
type of capping proposed to be done at Sonsoddo, what you are actually doing is
trapping the methane gas generated by the garbage dump. The methane gas will
then force its way downwards, leading to the leachate entering the groundwater
table thereby contaminating it," D'Souza said.
D'Souza was earlier engaged by
the Corporation of the City of Panaji as its consultant on garbage management.
He is a former professor of microbiology at Goa University.
Asnani was among those initially
shortlisted by MMC for empanelment of consultants for the Sonsoddo capping
exercise. After he also submitted his expression of interest (EoI) for the
project, the high power committee over Sonsoddo project, headed by Parrikar,
struck down MMC's selection of Asnani, following which the civic body selected Gurgaon-based
JM Environet (P) Ltd, and Cochin-based KR Gopalkrishnan for empanelment as
consultants for solid waste management projects of the council. MMC will invite
tenders for capping Sonsoddo garbage dump after receiving the detailed project
reports from the two agencies.
What caused a flutter in certain
quarters was the fact that MMC had invited EoIs for capping Sonsoddo dump only
after Asnani-in his capacity as MMC's consultant for the Sonsoddo garbage
treatment plant-had submitted a report to MMC confirming the presence of toxic
metals in the dump and suggesting that the dump be capped following
specifications of scientific closure as per the Municipal Solid Waste Rules
2000. TOI was the first to point out the incongruity in Asnani's empanelment for
the capping exercise as that would have amounted to Asnani evaluating his own
bid.
Anshita Asnani, managing director
of UMC Global Pvt Ltd (UMC) Ahmedabad, the firm headed by PU Asnani, in an
email interview with TOI said, "UMC's role was limited to advising MMC on
whether scientific capping of Sonsoddo dumpsite was an appropriate option"
and that neither UMC nor Asnani have been appointed as consultants for
providing garbage treatment solutions to the MMC.
"Considering the
environmental, social and economic aspects, and considering the changed
circumstances after the award of contract to the concessionaire (ie
availability of land to MMC for treatment and disposal of waste adjacent to the
Sonsoddo dump site), we had submitted our report to the municipal council,"
A Asnani said.
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