Waste Management-IV: 2 yrs on, waste-to-energy plant not set up for processing daily refuse

Tribune News Service

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, November 10

Following the termination of services by a private waste management company in February 2021, the waste processing plant it operated at the Municipal Corporation’s Jamalpur dumpsite near Kakka village had become non-functional and is now in a deteriorated state.

A dispute between the company and the MC has been in arbitration since then.

Despite the corporation’s plans that were prepared after February 2021 to establish a waste-to-energy plant, Bio-CNG plant, etc, for daily processing of fresh waste, no progress has been made on the grounds. Thus, a significant volume of newly generated waste is continuously accumulating at the MC’s main dumpsite, causing pollution in the absence of the required processing facility for the fresh waste.

MC officials had earlier visited Indore, Chennai, Delhi, Rajasthan and Prayagraj to study the solid waste management systems of those cities so that Ludhiana’s waste management system could be improved. Following a visit to a waste-to-energy plant in Delhi in July 2021, the then Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu (now former mayor) expressed optimism about improving waste management in Ludhiana. However, despite plans to establish a waste-to-energy plant in the city, no such facility has been established to date.

In November 2022, the civic body authorities had also planned to set up two new plants to manage 700 metric tonnes of waste of the daily around 1,100 MT. The officials then shared information about MC’s plans to establish a bio-CNG plant handling 200 MT of wet waste daily and another plant handling 500 MT of dry waste daily. Also, these planned plants have not been realised.

Kuldeep Singh Khaira, a representative from the Vigilant Citizens’ Forum (an NGO), said: “Despite the daily generation of approximately 1,100 MT of waste in the city, the corporation has failed in ensuring the proper and daily processing of the fresh waste. During the past two-and-a-half years, an estimated 10 LMT of waste have been generated in the city and accumulated at the MC’s main dumpsite. Even before February 2021, the private waste management company had failed to process the refuse appropriately. The matter of huge accumulation of new and legacy waste at the main dumpsite should be taken seriously as the negligence of the MC is leading to pollution and environmental harm.”

Meanwhile, an MC official claimed that the civic body was managing to process 20 per cent of the total fresh waste being generated on a daily basis by creating compost from wet waste and segregating sellable scrap items. The official said a detailed project report (DPR) was being prepared for a waste-to-energy plant for daily waste processing. It was expected that the consultant would complete the DPR by December 15. Representatives from two firms had already given their presentations on the waste-to-energy plant.

Dispute between firm, MC in arbitration

A dispute between the company and the Municipal Corporation has been in arbitration since the termination of services by a private waste management company in February 2021.

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