AGENCIES| PANAJI

 

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Goa today demanded a complete ban on the use of plastic bags in the state and also claimed that the much-hyped Saligao based treatment plant was failing due to increased loads of plastic in the garbage.

Speaking at a press conference, AAP leader Dean D’Cruz said that as the Member of the High Court appointed Monitoring Committee he had been visiting the plant and found that the plant was not working to its capacity and that the 55,000 metric tonnes of waste lying at the start of the plant was still left untreated with additional inert materials getting dumped thereupon and huge quantity of organic waste remaining untreated.

Stating that since January 2018, no RDF had been sent to the Vassavdutta Cement Plant in Karnataka and it has remained a mystery as to where this material is being dumped since then, as information in this regard has not been forthcoming. Outside inquiries have revealed that the said material was being sent to Chhattisgarh at a huge cost of Rs 50,000 per truck, he said. Comparing the treatment plant with that of Vengurla,  D’Cruz stated that the Vengurla plant was installed at a cost which is 1/10th of the Saligao Plant and the compost produced there was covering half the cost of operating the Vengurla Plant.