Curca must wait longer! Garbage problem in Goa

by PREETU NAIR

PANJIM:
September 25, 2006: In the minutes of order submitted to the High Court of Bombay at Panjim, all parties concerned with the Curca garbage site - the Curca villagers (petitioners) and respondent state government, Corporation of City of Panjim (CCP) and Goa State Urban Development Authority (GSUDA) -- agreed to go ahead with capping the site. The work was estimated to be completed by May 30, 2007 and the expenditure sanctioned was Rs 1,09,64,625.

March 20, 2007: GSUDA comes up with a revised time schedule. The work of capping is now postponed by almost a year and is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2008. Meanwhile, to prevent rainwater from percolating into the waste dump, GSUDA makes temporary arrangements to cover the Municipal waste dump with silpaulin, which is thinner than tarpaulin.

October 2007: Advocate General Subodh Kantak orally informs the High Court that the government was examining another proposal. He said that instead of capping the site, the government was looking into another proposal to shift the garbage to another site before the following monsoon. An application to this effect would be made in another week, he had informed the Court (the matter is yet to be placed on Board).

There is no method to this madness: after a year of planning, the government now proposes to shift the garbage, a proposal that they had disposed off much earlier, because it was not feasible.

Capping not feasible

"Capping of the Curca garbage site doesn't solve the problem. According to our expert's report, we should segregate the garbage. While the solid waste would be removed to the landfill site at Baingunim, the wet waste would be processed at the site itself and converted into manure," stated Chief Secretary JP Singh.
In fact, the government had decided to go ahead with capping the site relying on a report prepared by Mahabal Enviro Engineers Pvt Ltd., Pune, which was selected by GSUDA as the consultant for execution of the capping work.

Mahabal Enviro Engineers Pvt Ltd. in their plan "The Capping and Closure Plan of Municipal Solid Waste Dump at Curca" ruled out transportation not only because of lack of an alternate site but said: "at the most, the heap appearing over and above the ground level can be transported out. The earlier quarry has a depth of about seven metres below ground level. And this much municipal solid waste (MSW) can't be transported out immediately".

The consultants also looked into the possibility of incineration, as the existing MSW appeared to have good calorific value (judging from the combustion experienced); converting into compost, as the existing municipal solid wastes (MSW) appears to have good fertilizing value (judging from the bushes grown on the dump) ruled out both options as vermin-composting was once attempted by CCP (then Panjim Municipal Council) and took time.

And finally it was suggested that remediation by capping with best possible precautions would be the best option, which was accepted by one and all. But just when the Curca residents thought that the government would bring an end to their garbage woes by capping the Curca garbage site latest by March 31, 2008, the state government has sprung up a new surprise.

But hasn't the decision come a wee-bit too late? "We came to this conclusion on the basis of a report submitted to us by an expert Dr Mahale," added Singh.

Joaquim at sea?

Surprisingly, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao stated that he is not aware of the change in the plans. "I am not aware of this development", he said.
Even the officials at GSUDA are surprised with the sudden government decision.
"The High Court had asked CCP to cap and close the solid waste accumulated at the site. On CCP's request, the state government entrusted the work to GSUDA. But when we were about to issue a work order to cap the site, government asked us not to go ahead with the capping", informed Daulat Hawaldar, Member Secretary, GSUDA.
In the past, with the CCP failing to take the "Cradle to Grave" precautions of solid waste, the Curca garbage site had become prone to spontaneous local fire due to combustible part that also generated odour due to organic part and created water pollution due to run-off from rains, causing problems for people in the downstream and down gradient habitations in Curca.

Forced by circumstances and an indifferent state government, the Curca-Bambolim-Telaulim panchayat approached the High Court praying that the CCP be directed to remove and dispose the accumulated garbage (approximately 1.75 lakh metric tonnes) in a time-bound manner. This move forced the government to get its act together and they recommended capping and closing of the site.

But now with the government coming up with another plan, it may just be another long wait for the Curca residents!



How the capping was planned

According to the plan, garbage was to be leveled into a rectangular patch and compacted before a 45 cm thick layer of granular soil and another 60 cm thick layer of clay was placed on it. Then it was planned to cap the area, spread over 14,820 square metres, with a 30 cm thick layer of vegetative soil, with grass planted for holding the soil in place and in an effort to curtail the seepage of rainwater into the ground. Further, to minimize the possibility of leachate penetrating the water table, two bore wells were planned to be drilled below the depth of 10 metres for the purpose of pumping out leachate and treating it through a physico-chemical process. It was also decided to keep a daily watch on contents and document quantity, if it was pumped to the collection tank of physico-chemical treatment.