HC issues notice over pollution at Goa's largest garbage dump

 The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notices to a local municipal corporation among others, over accumulation and continued dumping of untreated garbage at the state's biggest open garbage dump at Sonsodo in South Goa.

The notice was issued to the Margao Municipal Council, Goa Waste Management Corporation and other local agencies by a High Court division bench comprising Justices M.S. Sonak and Nutan Sardesai, following a petition filed by a green NGO Goa Foundation along with an organisation called Citizens for Sonsodo.

The writ petition had sought permanent removal of the Sonsodo garbage waste dump, which the petitioners claim, poses a grave threat to the health of citizens in the vicinity of the site.

The petition has also accused civic agencies as well as a private company Fomento Green, which had been tasked with treating the garbage at the dump, with mismanagement, which has led to the crisis.

The Sonsodo garbage dump is located near the town of Margao in South Goa district. Last month, the accumulated and untreated garbage at the dump caught fire, causing fears of a health hazard to the one lakh odd residents of Margao. 

The issue was also thoroughly debated in the state assembly, even as the Opposition pinned the blame on the state government for not handling the issue pre-emptively.

There is currently a standoff between Fomento Green, which has been outsourced the task of garbage handling at the dump site and the civic authorities, with the former blaming the latter for not enforcing the 'garbage segregation at source' principles.IANS