‘Call meeting of Sonsoddo panel to review status’

Margao: With the government yet to come clear over its plans for setting up a solid waste treatment plant at Sonsoddo, and with inerts generated by the bioremediation process still lying at the site, GFP president Vijai Sardesai wants chief minister Pramod Sawant to convene a meeting of the high-powered committee on Sonsoddo at the earliest to review its status.
Sardesai on Wednesday called up the chief minister, who heads the committee, during his press conference and placed before him the demand and Sawant apparently agreed to convene the meeting at a date to be finalised soon.
There is a mountain of inerts that has developed at Sonsoddo following the bioremediation process, Sardesai told reporters.
The Margao municipality, he said, has failed to identify lands wherein the inerts could be transported for filling.
“Just the other day a minister expressed his helplessness in preventing flooding in Panaji during monsoon,” Sardesai said. “Are we also to live with the fear of the mountain of inerts at Sonsoddo collapsing during the rains? What’s the role of the Margao municipality at Sonsoddo? There’s uncertainty over the plans of a garbage treatment plant as well. There should be clarity on all these issues and therefore the chief minister should convene a meeting of the high-powered coordination committee at the earliest.”
While the Margao municipality has submitted its plan of action to the high court hearing a PIL in the Sonsoddo matter, the court has directed the civic body to fix timelines for each proposed work and to adhere to them.