MC puts Jaypee on notice over garbage from Shimla

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 7

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has decided to challenge the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, according to which garbage from Shimla is to be processed at the Chandigarh MC’s garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra. 

Meanwhile, the MC has also issued a notice to Jaiprakash Associates Limited, which runs the garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra, for accepting garbage from the Shimla MC without approval from the Chandigarh MC or its general house.

Besides, the Chandigarh MC has also written to the Shimla MC to provide a copy of the NGT order before sending trucks of garbage from the state to the City Beautiful.  

The NGT order, issued on October 1, had come in the wake of the closure of the solid waste management plant at Bhariyal on the outskirts of the hill city. On a daily basis, about 70 to 80 tonnes of solid waste is collected from households in 25 wards of Shimla.

Meanwhile, the garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra received 11 tonnes of garbage on October 6 and six tonnes of garbage today. Besides, two trucks of garbage are parked outside the garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra, which will be unloaded tomorrow morning.

Chandigarh MC Commissioner Bhawna Garg said according to an agreement between the Chandigarh MC and the Jaypee Group, the processing plant would only accept garbage from the Chandigarh MC. Besides, the Chandigarh MC was not a party in this case and its case was not presented before the NGT properly. The Jaypee Group did not take approval from the Chandigarh MC before accepting garbage from Shimla. On the next date of hearing in the NGT, the Chandigarh MC would present its case, she said. “Chandigarh is itself facing problems in dealing with the garbage problem and it will not be easy for us to process garbage from Shimla,” Garg said. RD Sharma, in charge of the garbage processing plant in Chandigarh, said the plant had a capacity to process 500 tonnes of garbage daily and at present they were getting 250 tonnes of garbage daily from the Chandigarh MC. They were only complying with the NGT order, he said.