Shift waste plant from Bainguinim, says Shripad amid MLAs’ spat

Panaji: Union minister of state and North Goa MP Shripad Naik on Thursday urged state govt to shift the solid waste management plant from Bainguinim, considering the sentiment of the people. Naik said he met with chief minister Pramod Sawant and urged him to shift the plant.

“Old Goa is one of the best tourist spots in the world. We urged the previous govt to shift the waste management plant from Bainguinim, and we openly said, if possible, shift the project,” Naik said. “We are maintaining our stand.”

Reacting to waste management minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate’s statement that the plant will be set up at Bainguinim as the process is almost complete, Naik said, “Even if the process is completed, considering the public sentiment, govt should reconsider the project.”

Naik added, “We are not opposing the plant as I am part of govt, and we cannot oppose.”

He said the job of politicians is to understand the sentiment of people and work accordingly. “We are putting all our efforts into shifting the plant,” Naik said.

Monserrate and Cumbharjua MLA Rajesh Faldesai had already locked horns over the setting up of the waste management plant at Bainguinim.

Making it clear that the location of the project will not be changed, the Panaji MLA said that he was not sure if Faldesai would still be an MLA when the project is inaugurated.

“He (Faldesai) will be there to lay the foundation stone (for the plant), but I am not very sure if he will be there to inaugurate it,” Monserrate said.

He added, “We are firm that the plant will come up. He was asking me for the past two and a half years, and I was telling him that the plant will come up.”

Monserrate went on to say, “He was ensuring that the plant does not come up. He is trying to protect his people, and I don’t want to comment on that. The plant will come up at Bainguinim.”

After Monserrate predicted the political future of Faldesai, the Cumbharjua MLA said that Monserrate will not get re-elected in the next assembly election.

“I read the statement of Monserrate. The situation won’t be difficult for me, but it will be for him in the next election,” Faldesai said. “I am 100% sure that he will not get elected.”

The waste management minister said he was the first MLA among the 40 legislators to demand that the plant come up in his constituency, and he even told former chief minister Manohar Parrikar about it, so that the entire taluka is taken care of.



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