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GOANET READERS: The enclosed below letter was posted in most of the local dailies but unfortunately it is yet to be published. The Times of India Editor Mr. KR Sreenivas in his SMS to me says; Quote: We cannot publish it like that. We will try and see if we can do a story if there is merit in it, Thanks KR Sreenivas The problem is that if this project from PEZ Holland is approved by CCP Mayor Surendra Furtado when this project is not at all feasible to Panjimites on account of various factors reported in my article, importantly due to the soil conditions and hilly areas etec which is different of what they have in Holland which has only a plain terrain and other factors. I have noticed that the topography of this land in Netherland in the year 1986-87, when I was on Government of India official tour on deputation by NIO, under NORAD training programme in Holand ( Amsterdam, Utreck, Eindovan ) was different from Goa.. Now, let me give some facts, of the presentation by consultants M/s TEZ Holland, the CCP Mayor Mr Furtado interrupted us and said that myself and Dr. Joe D’Sousa not to speak out of the topic as he expected from us only solutions and nothing else. I said if we knew solution than the presentations of any kind were not required. The moment we the invitees brought such positive points during our talk, it is for the Mayor to deliberate and discuss during the proceedings. If not, it will be a waste of our public exchequer funds if the project goes through. Inspite of that, he went ahead and interrupted us again, and told us that we both of us, are NGO”s . For his information, we do not belong to any NGO’s group, and also we do not receive any funding from any sources but we are just giving our scientific opinion and knowledge to our Government and Corporation. It is for him (Mayor) to approve or not, he is in POWER. Please see my enclosed report/article for the general public for their opinion. Stephen Dias Panjimite and Senior Citizen Dona Paula Date" 10.4.2016 ====================================== PROPOSED SOLUTION FOR SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT FOR PANJIM Report request to be published; By Stephen Dias Town hall of Corporation of City of Panjim ( CCP) On the first of April, 2016 at 11am, the CCP Mayor organized a meeting on Garbage Management at the CCP hall. The proposal for Solid Waste Management plant by Plastic Export Zundert (I) Pvt. Ltd. ( PEZ), Director Mr. David de Sousa and Chairman Mr. Johannes T.M. Lubbers, from Holland was placed before the Corporators as well as residents from Panjim in a power point presentation. Unfortunately the lack of publicity meant the meeting was sparsely attended. After the presentation, it was brought to the notice of Mayor Surendra Furtado by Stephen Dias that the landfill method for treating mixed garbage was not advisable in Goa. Factors such as uneven terrain consisting of rocky and hilly area and low lying areas in Panjim make Panjim itself highly inappropriate as it is vulnerable during sea level rise. Some parts of Panjim like near Hotel Mandovi, Miramar Circle, Campal and St. Inez creek near Camarabhat and others areas at Mala, are prone to flooding which would impact the transportation and installation of the machinery which would cost several crores. Goa as a whole is also too densely populated for this to be a solution. Mr. Dias also pointed out that based on his research the total cost of sanitary lining landfill alone for an area of 4400 square metres shall cost approximately Rs. 1.70 crores and the total cost would be around 20 crore. He inquired with PEZ about their estimate for total landfill cost for one tonne of combustible waste including operational costs. They were unable to provide a proper answer. He also asked how they will generate the electricity power out of waste material and details of landfill gas technology proposed by them. All questions had no valuable answers from the consultants PEZ. Dr Joe D’Sousa who was also present stated that BIO Gas production from mixed garbage was absurd. As such the CCP spent over 3 to 5 crores to put a Bio Gas plant at Patto where the consultants promised electricity to Panjim. However, this plant went sour and CCP lost over 5 crores in the process to put the Bio Gas plant and later dismantle it. Since there is a lot of rainfall in Goa, the leachates from the landfill site would cause flooding and contaminate the surrounding areas. Panjim having tropical climate there are every chances of microbial degradation and corrosion of installed machinery, as well as the spontaneous generation of fire and destruction at the landfill site. The Government of Goa does not approve landfill as land is scarce in Goa, he observed. Patricia Pinto from Campal also intervened alongwith Commissioner of CCP Sanjit Rodrigues and they said that Panjim is already having garbage segregation and disposal system in place. The invitees have asserted that if Mayor wanted to go ahead, he was free to accept the proposal at his own risk. The MLA of Panjim Sidharth Kuncolienkar and Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate MLA of St. Cruz and Panel Leader were present but did not interact. Overall, this proposal should not go through because: 1) Goa being a small, land-scarce State where population density is growing fast, solutions that require large land areas are ridiculous and counter productive in the long run. 2) Environmental factors in Goa make this an unsuitable solution. 3) We cannot take irreversible decisions like this based on the 'seller'. The government should look at 'buyers'. Obviously, companies that set up landfills will speak of the pros rather than the cons. However, globally large scale litigation are proof that for the people living in areas with landfills, the landfill becomes the problem and not the solution. Stephen Dias Former scientist of NIO Dona Paula ======================================================== This letter is published in Goanet today: 10.4.2016 Message: 1 Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2016 21:42:21 +0530 From: Edwin Pinto <eddipi...@gmail.com> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Subject: [Goanet] Parrikar and NGOs Message-ID: <cabjd0cg4qqoa0p3x0tug8xqabwa-wqccojvbjeu9ujqvrfa...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 I read with interest Defence Minister Parrikar?s strongly worded criticism of NGOs who ?stall government projects by dragging them to courts or tribunals?. This exhibits a very a dismaying, undemocratic and fascist mindset that governments are omnipotent and above and beyond being questioned by the people. Goans apparently, are now being ordered to keep their brains and their opinions in cold storage and blindly and obediently concur with each and every dictate of the government ? perhaps the BJP concept of democracy. What does Mr. Parrikar feel about consultation with people before the government rams projects down their throats? After all, aren?t the people stakeholders in the land and main affected parties in decisions taken by the government? And it is people who comprise NGOs. Governments are only caretakers for five years. It is also surprising that Mr. Parrikar feels so strongly that NGOs should take up issues of his choice like the Mhadei diversion, which his BJP govenrnment presumably cannot handle. NGOs have the freedom to take up issues that they feel are important. If the state BJP government that Mr. Parrikar started in 2012 cannot handle the Mhadei and other issues, with the entire state machinery at its command, and requires NGOs who are chugging along on their own steam and efforts, then perhaps it may be time for this government to admit its incapability and resign. And instead of asking for investigations into the finances of these NGOs, ironically from a government that is building all these projects by submerging our state in an insurmountable mountain of financial debt, it might be more prudent to hand over governance to these NGOs instead. Diana Pinto