Aafrin Kidwai 
Goa Waste management minister Michael Lobo has said the government has not shelved the Bainguinim waste treatment plant project. It has been put on hold as there is a financial crunch. Once funds are available, work on the project will be taken up, the minister informed The Times of India.
Reacting to Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar’s statement that Lobo had changed stand over the expansion of Solid Waste Management Plant at Saligao, the minister said that during the tourism season, they get around 200 tonne garbage per day at the plant. “Where are we supposed to send that garbage?” he said.
Recently, the state cabinet approved the expansion of the Saligao garbage treatment plant’s capacity from existing 100 tonne per day to 250 tonne per day. “The proposal was approved when Salgaonkar was minister and I was director of Goa Solid Waste Management Corporation. I had opposed expansion,” he said. The minister said that the plant will not accept garbage from anywhere except the 27 coastal village panchayats. He said that Salgaonkar is opposing the expansion of the plant because he is in opposition. “Nobody should do politics on the plant,” Lobo said. If they want then they can approach the National Green Tribunal to stop the plant’s expansion, he said
