Work on Maqsudan Sabzi Mandi solid waste plant yet to start, garbage piles on

Tribune News Service

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Jalandhar, March 12

Even after a lapse of three months, a solid waste management (SWM) plant couldn’t come up at the Maqsudan Sabzi Mandi. To prevent foul smell emanating from the piling up of a large quantity of garbage on a daily basis, the processing unit was to be constituted inside a closed room at the city’s largest mandi. However, the SWM plant failed to see light of the day at the sabzi mandi. The plant was stated to be installed on a 15,000 sq m area and after bidding the project was scheduled to have started from November 1 onwards.

The project is apparently lying pending due to the unavailability of favourable bidding. Sukhdeep Singh, secretary, Mandi Market Committee, said they had been receiving bids above the fixed cost. Hence, the officials were somewhat disillusioned over the slow pace of work in this direction. After the tender for the project was uploaded on the website, www.eprocpunjab. gov.in, the bidding was opened for the contractors from October 10. But almost after passing five months no contractor has shown interest in setting up of the plant. “Not only the processing of the accumulated waste but also the segregation of plastics and non-biodegrdable waste will be done at the solid waste management plant,” added Sukhdeep.

The mandi is considered as one of the largest mandis in Asia and on an average 10-15 tonnes of garbage are produced from the market on a daily basis. At present, there is only one dumping point at the market which can’t accommodate all waste. Hence, it’s the need of the hour to create a SWM at the mandi as the garbage accumulated in the open irks residents of the area.

A similar plant was also set up in 2017 on a trial basis at the mandi only. However, it was closed after four-five months due to its inefficiency to treat all waste generated in the market.