Two years on, only waste, no energy

Kuldeep Chauhan

All trash and junk produced in Shimla for treatment goes to the waste-to-energy plant at Bhariyal, located in the periphery of Shimla city.

But even after two years, the waste-to-energy treatment plant is yet to generate energy from the plant. 

The private firm which had set up the plant is yet to install the gas generating machines at the site, said sources in the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), which signed the MoU with the company to run the plant. SMC did not spend a penny on the plant and the entire cost of the project (Rs 42 crore) was borne by the company.

Heaps of waste

The plant was set up at Bhariyal after the National Green Tribunal pulled up the SMC and the State Pollution Control Board for their failure to check environmental pollution created by untreated garbage in and around the capital city. NGT is still monitoring the operation of the plant, sources said. It is not only Shimla city alone that disposes its waste at Bhariyal, even Solan and Theog towns dispose of the garbage here daily. In all, these three civic bodies are disposing about 80 to 90 tonnes of garbage daily at the plant, sources said.

Out of this, about 70 tonnes comes from Shimla, while the rest comes from these two towns.

Locals a harried lot

The plant has come as a major irritant for locals staying near the site. They complained that the state pollution regulator and SMC have made their life miserable by setting up a plant near their village.

The SMC had promised them that it would redesign the landfill site, but there has been no respite from the stench that the site generates. Shimla Mayor Kusum Sadret visited the site last year. Villagers in the vicinity told her that they inhale nothing but stench from the decomposed mountain of waste piled up at the site. Rains only add to their miseries, they said.

Not only this, visitors coming from Shimla to the Jubbarhatti airport, brave the stench while crossing the Bhariyal site every day.

The company has spent about Rs 42 crore on the waste-to-energy plant, but is yet to generate “green energy” from the site, as the SMC is yet to redesign the landfill site. The company rushed into running the plant by getting old gas-generating machineries from Delhi in August 2017, which failed to function properly, due to which the problem arose, sources said. 

Produces RDF and sells it to Ambuja Cement plant

The plant, however, produces the refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from waste. “The old machines have failed to generate the targeted 1.5 MW of green energy from RDF,” the state pollution regulator revealed during a recent inspection of the plant. The green energy was to be sold to the State Electricity Board and the revenue, so earned, would have gone to the company, sources in SMC said.

The regulator has served notices to the SMC and the company for not running the plant properly. 

“The SMC has been asked to redesign the landfill site to prevent leakages and breeding of flies and mosquitoes,” said a senior environment engineer in the State Pollution Control Board.

SMC officials said the company got four gasification machines from Germany. “It is selling the RDF to the Ambuja Cement plant, which uses RDF as fuel in its plant,” they said.

The Mayor said: “SMC sprays disinfectants at the site to stop breeding of flies and mosquitoes. The company has been asked to run the plant properly. The SMC is redesigning the landfill site and the process is on.”

About the plant

• As per the agreement, SMC dumps 76 to 80 tonne waste, including 6 to 8 tonnes from Solan and Theog towns, at the waste-to-energy plant in Bhariyal daily for free
• The plant was supposed to produce 1.5 MW of electricity every day and reduce garbage to ash
• The cost of the entire project (about Rs 42 crore) was borne by a private firm, which was given the task to generate “green energy” at the site
•  The company, however, generates about 30-32 tonnes of RDF daily, which is sold to the Ambuja Cement plant