NT Reporter
Margao
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued a show-cause notice to Margao Municipal Council (MMC) for the unlawful disposal of unsegregated and mixed waste, including sanitary refuse, at
the Sonsoddo dumping site, in violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and environmental safety norms.
The notice issued by GSPCB chairman Dr Levinson Martins to MMC chief officer Madhu Narvekar follows the recent exposure of the alleged illegal dumping by former MMC chairperson and Congress leader Savio Coutinho and others, who submitted photographic evidence of the violations and urged authorities to take immediate action against the civic body.
In the notice, the MMC chief officer has been asked to explain why action should not be initiated against him under
the Environment (Protection) Act for disposing of unsegregated and mixed solid waste at Sonsoddo and subsequently covering it with mud.
The GSPCB’s intervention followed a site inspection conducted by a team of board officials on December 5, during which serious violations were observed.
According to the board, the inspection team witnessed a tipper truck transporting mixed waste, including sanitary refuse, to the Sonsoddo site, located close to Manovikas High School, where the waste was dumped and buried under layers of mud. A JCB was reportedly used to level the heaps.
The GSPCB said that around 20 tonnes of mixed waste was being disposed of at the site in clear violation of the Environment Act.
Dr Martins said the chief officer has been directed to immediately segregate and remove the dumped waste and ensure its disposal in a scientific manner, as mandated under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
He has also been
instructed to dispose of accumulated sanitary waste at the common biomedical waste treatment facility
at Kundaim, remediate
the site and submit a compliance report within seven days.
The civic body has been warned against further dumping and asked to provide month-wise details of sanitary and domestic biohazardous waste sent to the Kundaim facility.
