Another pile of garbage surfaces at Dadu Majra

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, October 21

Even as work to clear two dumps at Dadu Majra is underway, a fresh pile of waste has come up at the site, leaving local residents worried.

However, the Municipal Corporation has stated that the fresh pile of waste will be cleared under the existing biomining contract. Aakanksha Enterprises has been carrying out the Rs 68-crore biomining work to clear 7.67 lakh metric tonne of legacy waste at the dumping site under the Phase II of the project since November last year. Under the Phase 1 (Rs 33 crore) of the project, 5 lakh MT of legacy waste was biomined by SMS Limited.

No fresh waste at site from Dec

Work to set up a temporary composting plant to process the city’s wet waste is already underway at the Dadu Majra dumping ground. From December, the entire 374 metric tonne of waste produced by the city daily will be processed at this plant. At present, only up to 200 MT of garbage is processed. The remaining waste is being dumped at the Dadu Majra site, adding to the garbage pile there. It is being claimed that no fresh waste will be dumped there from December.

Amid concerns of the local residents about a fresh waste pile coming up at the dumping ground, MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “It is obvious that the pile of fresh waste is coming up as we currently do not have a wet processing plant, which processes entire day’s garbage. With a temporary plant becoming functional in December, we will not have any fresh garbage after that. As far as the new dump is concerned, it will be cleared under the ongoing project. As per the conditions of the regular contract, we can enhance the cost by up to 25 per cent.”

Local residents apprehensive

Despite so much money being spent on the project, another pile of waste has come up. This fresh pile is of the height of a four-storey building. We do not believe that this much of garbage will be biomined under the ongoing Phase II of the project. — Dyal Krishan, president, Dumping Ground Joint Action Committee

Meanwhile, the local residents raised concerns despite the MC claims that it is going to clear the entire dump by early next year. Dyal Krishan, president, Dumping Ground Joint Action Committee, a body of local residents, said, “Despite so much money being spent on the project, another pile of waste has come up. We can see this fresh pile, which is of the height of a four-storey building, at the site. We do not believe that this much of garbage will be biomined under the ongoing Phase II of the project.”