Who will clean Amritsar? Managing solid waste remains a mammoth task for civic body

The holy city which generates around 500 metric tonnes (MT) of waste daily is notorious for its stinky streets, filthy roads and littered footpaths in the absence of proper solid waste management. In the name of solid waste management, the Municipal Corporation hired a private firm in 2016 for door-to-door collection of waste and bio-remediation of legacy waste. The MC and the private company both failed to bring about changes during the last eight years. Three governments have changed in the state since then but the city witnessed no remarkable turnaround.

For 2.5 lakh households, the solid waste management firm has only 110 mini-trucks. Initially, the number of vehicles was 250 but a large number of vehicles were worn out. The company officials have now claimed that they are increasing the number of garbage collection vehicles by 90. It will raise the total number of vehicles to 200. Similarly, a number of compactors are lying defunct. In the absence of the required number of compactors, the MC developed several dumping sites in the city, where mini-trucks unload the garbage collected from different areas. Such dumping sites make the lives of people miserable.

There are three main sources of garbage in the city: domestic, bulk waste generators and industrial waste. Around 2.5 lakh households in the city generate around 500 tonnes per day (TPD) of solid waste that includes 300 TPD of wet and 200 TPD of dry waste. Even after paying heavy penalties imposed by the National Green Tribunal, the Municipal Corporation failed to implement waste segregation at the source level. The garbage collection vehicles don’t have partitions for dry and wet waste. The Municipal Corporation has hired tractor-trolleys to tackle the mismanagement by the solid waste management firm. Around 1,500 sanitation workers clean the city roads and remove the garbage from key points, where private firm are not able to reach.

As far as bulk waste generators are concerned, the health wing of MC has identified 150 bulk waste generators, including major hotels and restaurants in the city. According to the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) rules, a firm that generates more than 100 kg of waste per day is considered a bulk waste generator. An in-house waste processing unit is mandatory for such bulk waste generators as per the MSW (Management and Handling) Rules, 2016. Out of 150, only 27 major firms in the city have installed the in-house waste processing units.

The MC doesn’t have any strategy to tackle industrial waste. Most industrial units dump their waste on roadside, in green belts and alongside the railway track. The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and MC hardly take any action against the industrialists.

Apart from this, the city is burdened with 20 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, which is lying at Bhagtanwala dump. The garbage heaps are regularly increasing even though the private firm often sets the garbage on fire. Around 500 MT of garbage adds to legacy waste every day. The solid waste management firm had promised to process the legacy garbage within two years but failed to start the process.

Sandeep Sharma, office-bearer of Save Amritsar, a local NGO, said, “It is the failure of government, politicians and officials that even after spending funds worth crores, they have failed to manage the garbage. In the name of processing the garbage, they burn it and get funds from the government. The residents have been facing respiratory issues and other diseases due to the filthy environment.”

Kiran Kumar, the Municipal Health Officer concerned, did not respond when contacted for his response.

MLA West Jasbir Singh Sandhu, who also raised the issue of garbage in Punjab assembly, stated that the government is trying to streamline the solid waste management system. The governments in the past reached faulty agreements with private firms, which made their task difficult, he said.