Margao: Hardly three months after it was inaugurated, the functioning of the waste treatment plant using the gasification method at Sonsoddo has come under a cloud, with Congress alleging serious defects in its working and the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) countering by filing a police complaint against the party’s members for ‘trespassing’.A delegation of the Margao Congress Block, led by convener Savio Coutinho, recently submitted a complaint to MMC administrator Srinet Kotwale, alleging gross irregularities in the operation of the Rs 7.5 crore plant. The delegation said it had inspected the facility following information that the plant was not functioning as per its designed capacity of 10 tonnes per day (TPD).Among the findings cited were tonnes of waste dumped on conveyor belts, indicating that the pyrolysis unit was not functioning, and large quantities of half-burnt waste and plastic in the fly ash, suggesting that the required temperatures were not being achieved. The delegation further claimed that coconut husk fed into the plant was found uncharred, and that key components were shown by the plant’s own supervisor to be non-functional.Congress also objected to the police complaint filed by MMC chief officer Madhu Narvenkar on July 15 against the delegation for allegedly trespassing while inspecting what it called “a public asset created from taxpayer money.”The party has demanded a joint inspection by the MMC, Goa State Pollution Control Board and Goa State Waste Management Corporation, besides an immediate hold on payments to the executing agency pending a performance audit, and a detailed performance report by Aug 31.Coutinho warned that the party would approach the lokayukta, vigilance department and the high court if no action was taken.Kotwale, after hearing the delegation, assured that the complaint would be examined and that a joint inspection would be arranged shortly, to which the Congress delegation would also be invited.
