Incinerator inaugurated by CM shut

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 18

The Uttarakhand Municipal Corporation has shut the Kill Waste Machine (incinerator) recently inaugurated by Chief Minister TS Rawat to keep river Rispana clean as the equipment was set up without taking permission from the Pollution Control Board.

The Chief Minister had inaugurated the machine on the banks of Rispana with much fanfare a few days ago and had claimed that the machine was capable of burning waste but surprisingly the officials did not deem it fit to procure permission from the state Pollution Control Board for installing the machine.

More so, the machine was inaugurated as part of the Uttarakhand government’s clean drive for rivers Rispana and Kali. The project was launched on January 12 amid proclamations about the benefits of the equipment and the Chief Minister had himself publicly burnt the waste using the machine. “The machine is capable of burning 100 kg of waste and reducing it into 10 kg in one hour. The smoke generated during the burning of waste is also not harmful,” TS Rawat had said.

Now with the Pollution Control Board shutting off the machine, questions are being raised whether the officers had carried any homework before installing the machine. A similar machine was also installed at the ashram of Chidanand Swami in Rishikesh, which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister.

Further, today again the Chief Minister inaugurated a trenching ground and kill-waste machine in Doiwala. The machine has been designed by scientists from the DRDO. The funds for the machine will be borne from the MLA fund.