Garbage processing gets going

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 25

A day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed JP Associates to process waste up to 450 metric tonnes (MT) in its plant at Dadu Majra every day, a total of 212 MT waste was processed today.

Col KJS Sandhu (retd), the plant in-charge, Jaypee Group, said they took the entire garbage for processing. Normally, they accept garbage till 3.30 pm, but today the process was on till 6 pm, he said. 

On the less quantity of garbage, he said they did not return any garbage-lifting vehicle. “Only MC officials can tell why they sent only 212 MT garbage for processing,” he added. 

Meanwhile, MC Joint Commissioner Manoj Khatri said his officials were preparing a report and requested to contact MOH Dr PS Bhatti. 

When contacted, Dr PS Bhatti, said as his team was still compiling the report, he would be able to comment on the issue only after the compilation was over. Though he added that they would make a video of a truck returning without garbage.  A driver of a garbage-lifting vehicle said there were long queues of vehicles. He had reached there around 8 am and it took him around four hours to finish work, he said. 

The  National Green Tribunal, in its order, had stated that in case the plant failed to process the waste, they would have to pay Rs 50,000 per day as an environmental compensation after one month.  The firm was told to set up a compost plant within three months. 

The company was asked to rectify the deficiencies in the RDF plant within four weeks. The MC and JP Associates had been at loggerheads for long as the latter was not processing the waste, forcing the MC to throw it at the dumping ground.

Panel to monitor plant once a month

A high-powered committee has been constituted to monitor the functioning of the plant once a month and later twice a month. Member secretary of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee will be the chairman and nodal officer. It will also comprise a representative of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, 

a professor from the PEC University of Technology, who will be nominated by the institute director, and a representative of the Central Pollution Control Board. The committee will carry out the first inspection within a week and file a comprehensive report. The report has to deal with the quantum of municipal solid waste, transportation, dumping and whether the same is being done within the ambit of the rules.