4-member Central panel visits waste plant site at Jhuriwala

Panchkula, May 28

A four-member sub-committee of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) of the Government of India visited the Jhuriwala solid waste management plant site here today.

The team, led by NP Shukla, Chairman, EAC, visited the site to check the project as objections had been raised for converting forest land into a garbage dumping site posing an environmental hazard.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change decided to send the sub-committee to verify the objections raised against the Jhuriwala dumping site.

Earlier, the company hired by the Panchkula Municipal Corporation gave a detailed presentation of the project to the team. The MC Commissioner and the Executive Engineer, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, were among the officials present on the occasion.

It is pertinent to mention here that a letter received by the MC from the EAC stated that the proposal to convert a forest land into a waste landfill site for terms of references was considered by the EAC (Infra-2) in its meetings on September 29 and October 27-28 last year. Based on the information presented in the meetings, the EAC (Infra-2) expressed its concern on the conversion of forest land for use as a waste management or landfill site.

MC Commissioner Dharamveer Singh said the company hired by the MC had given details presentation on the plant to be set up at Jhuriwala. Later, the team also visited the Jhuriwala site.

The sub-committee would submit its report to the Central government.