All councillors refuse to okay new waste processing plant

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, May 13

With the Mayor not included in the high-powered committee formed by the UT Administration for deciding on a new waste processing plant, MC councillors cutting across party lines have slammed the move and turned down the agenda of according approval to the project.

550 MT Solid waste city generates per day

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• 100% dry waste processed
• Only 120 MT of total 376 MT wet waste is processed at the existing plant and the rest dumped at Dadu Majra

The councillors said till the Mayor and other public representatives were included in the committee, they will not approve the agenda. Earlier, the UT Administration, during a meeting of the high-powered committee chaired by UT Adviser Dharam Pal, accepted the recommendations of the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a consultant hired by the MC.

Leading the charge, BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi said, “It is very surprising that the agenda of the MC project, which has to be cleared by the House, has no representation by the Mayor in the so-called high-powered committee. The Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor and even local councillor should be included in the committee. We do not want to have another Jaypee-like bad experience and make people suffer.”

When other councillors supported Joshi in unison, MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra replied the committee was formed by the UT Administrator.

The councillors also sought the copies of the detailed project report (DPR) and the request for proposal (RFP). To this, Mitra told them that the DPR was a secret document, while the RFP had been mailed to the official accounts of all councillors.

Joshi said, “What was there to hide from the 35 councillors? If the DPR was to be kept secret, the Mayor or the local councillor could have been made part of the committee where the report was discussed.”

Most councillors said they had not received the email or seen their accounts yet. Some said their email IDs with the MC were incorrect. Thus, they will not be able to decide on the matter.

“Till the Mayor is made part of the high-powered committee and the RFP is given to us, we are not going to approve this agenda at all,” declared Joshi, as all other councillors also agreed to that.

The civic body has proposed to establish an integrated municipal solid waste processing plant of 550 TPD (tonne per day) capacity for 27 years at Dadu Majra by hiring a company through a tendering.

Three years ago, the corporation had taken over the waste processing plant from the Jaypee group. It could not even float a tender to set up new machinery and run it through some agency to date.

Following an inspection in August 2020, the IIT-Roorkee had observed all machines at the Sector 25 plant had completed their lifespan. It had recommended the setting up of a modern 500 TPD plant for treating dry and wet waste.

As per the civic body, the city generates about 550 MT of solid waste per day, of which 350 MT is wet and the rest 200 MT dry.

The MC says it is processing 100% dry waste. However, only 120 MT of total 376 MT wet waste is being processed at the existing plant. The remaining garbage is thrown at the Dadu Majra dump.

Don’t want another Jaypee-like experience

Leading the charge, BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi said, “It is very surprising that the agenda of the MC project, which has to be cleared by the House, has no representation by the Mayor in the so-called high-powered committee. We do not want to have another Jaypee-like bad experience and make people suffer.”

New project proposed

The MC has proposed to establish an integrated municipal solid waste processing plant of 550 tonne per day capacity for 27 years at Dadu Majra by hiring a company through tendering. In August 2020, the IIT-Roorkee had observed all machines at the Sector 25 plant, then run by the Jaypee group, had completed their lifespan.