Karnal gets Rs8 cr for bioremediation of 90K tonne waste

Smart city: Project to help segregate soil enhancer from the garbage

BOX

To segregate plastic too

* The project will also help in segregating refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which includes plastic, polythene, tetra packs, clothes, wooden shells and other such items

* DC Nishant Kumar Yadav said: “The project will also help in segregation of glass and other items, which are recyclable.”

* Currently, the plant generates compost manure from the solid waste, which is useful in improving carbon content in the soil

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 21

Heaps of garbage, posing a serious health hazard to locals living near the solid waste management plant in Shekhpura village on Meerut road, will be a thing of the past soon as a project of bioremediation for segregation and processing of solid waste is being started under the Smart City Project.

The board of directors of the Karnal Smart City Ltd (KSCL), a special purpose vehicle looking after the Karnal Smart City project, has approved this project and the tender process has also been initiated. A sum of Rs 8 crore is expected to be incurred on the project. “We have started the process to start bioremediation project for the segregation and processing of the solid waste,” said Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, who is also CEO of the KSCL.

At present, around 90,000 tonnes of garbage is lying on around 8 acres in the plant and it would be processed under this project, he said.

Besides, the entire site will be beautified by developing a park and planting trees.

As per sources, around 50 per cent of the total garbage has already been turned into soil or soil enhancer. The project will segregate this soil or soil enhancer from the waste. Besides, the project will help in segregation of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which includes plastic, polythene, tetra pack, clothes, wooden shells or other such items. “The project will also help in segregation of glass and other items, which are recyclable,” the DC said.

With a population of over 4.2 lakh, Karnal city churns around 200 tonnes per day (TPD) of garbage, but, as per sources, the capacity of the plant is around 100 TPD and it processes only 25 per cent of the total arrival daily, leading to heaps of garbage in the plant.

At some places, the plant stinks. However, earlier the segregation of waste had also been done, but for the last nine months its pre-segregation unit was not performing up to the mark, sources said.

Currently, the plant generates compost manure from the solid waste, which is useful in improving the carbon content in the soil. Besides, it was earlier utilising the polythene by converting it into plastic pellets, which was used in making plastic furniture, panels and other items of plastic, but the Pollution Control Board has restricted the plant authorities from burn RDF.

To tackle garbage issue, the previous Congress government had initiated this project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to convert solid waste into compost and RDF.

The foundation stone was laid in 2008, while the plant was inaugurated by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in 2012.

However, the plant started trial run in 2010. A Mumbai-based company, Hydroair Tectonics Pollution Control Development Limited (HTPL), was employed to operate the plant on BOT basis for 30 years, but it had failed to give desired results.

The HTPL had constructed the plant at the cost of Rs 32 crore, of which the half cost was borne by the state government. But due to non-functioning, the plant had become a health hazard for the KMC as well as locals. It was converted into a large dumping ground. The MC had terminated the contract of the company and hired a new one, Aakanksha Enterprises, in 2017.