Goa: Low voltage hampers dry waste baling at Sonsodo

Hazard a guess on the status of baling of the 15 tonnes of dry waste generated in the commercial capital every day?

Well, when the Margao Municipal lawyer submitted before the High Court that five baling machines are presently in operation at Sonsodo and two more will be procured and put into operation at the site, the High Court on April 12 directed that the exercise must be completed in the next 15 days since the baling machines cost hardly around Rs five lakh each.

Tuesday saw Margao MLA Digambar Kamat commissioning MMC's baling machine at the Nessai IDC shed, but welcome to Sonsodo where the dry waste baling has gone haywire with four out of the five baling machines, not in operation over electricity issues.

It's now five days since the cable fault rendered low voltage at Sonsodo, bringing the functioning of the baling machines to a halt. What's interesting to note is there seemed no urgency on the part of the civic body to fix the power issues and ensure the four baling machines are back in operation.

The Goan understands that the MMC got the electricity department official at the site, but the latter maintained that the problem falls within the civic body's jurisdiction. A private electrician engaged by the MMC is believed to have maintained that the municipality will have to engage a specialised agency to fix the power problem.

Officials pointed out that a note has been put up to the MMC Chief Officer and the Chairperson for a decision.

"The ball lies in the court of the Chairperson and the Chief Officer. Let us wait and see when they will give the go-ahead signal to engage the services of the specialised agency", the official said.

For the moment, baling has been disrupted in a big way. While the five machines used to bail around 15 tonnes, the lone machine is presently baling around three tonnes daily.

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