Chandigarh
Finally, the work of clearing the huge pile of trash at Chandigarh’s sole dumping ground will begin at a cost of Rs 34 crore on Friday.
The huge pile of trash has been a pain for decades at the dumping ground which is situated at Dadumajra. Residents will be able to get rid of 5 lakh metric tonnes of garbage that has accumulated at Dadumajra.
The work has been allotted to a Nagpur-based company by the board of directors of Chandigarh Smart City Limited.
This project is called the ‘mining of legacy waste’ which means clearing
the mountain of trash using legacy mining facility. This will be done
at a cost of Rs 34 crore against the estimated Rs 40 crore.
The Nagpur-based company, M/s SMS Limited, will complete the work in 18 months. The waste dump will be cleared in a “scientific and hygienic manner”, according to the officials.
Mayor Rajesh Kalia told Chandigarh Newsline that this will be a huge relief to residents as for decades they had been facing skin and breathing issues due to the leachate oozing from the dump. “I have done what I had promised. Being a resident of the area, I know what we all have been facing all these years. People had developed rashes on skin due to the waste. The dump had grown bigger than the height of the houses there. I am happy that the work is beginning tomorrow,” Kalia said.
The Chandigarh Administration consulted neighbouring states and explored the possibility of whether they could shift the dumping site. However, the exercise was not successful. As a result, they floated a tender for legacy mining.
Chandigarh generates around 450 metric tonnes of waste daily. As the civic body is at loggerheads with the garbage processing plant saying that complete processing of waste is not being carried out, the municipal corporation plans to move the National Green Tribunal against the company managing the processing plant. The civic body wants to ensure 100 per cent processing of waste by the plant.
Even now, the garbage processing plant is unable to carry out the processing of waste completely and has been under fire for not processing.
UT Administrator V P Singh Badnore will inaugurate the ‘mining of legacy waste’ project at Dadumajra dumping ground in the presence of MP Kirron Kher, UT Adviser Manoj Parida, Mayor Rajesh Kumar, Commissioner-cum-CEO-CSCL K K Yadav and area councillor Farmila.
How mining of legacy waste will be done
The dumping ground is spread across 10 acres. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Chandigarh Smart City Limited K K Yadav, the company concerned will first dig up the site from one side.
There will be different sizes of trommels which will segregate different types of waste. From that, the C and D waste will go to the civic body’s C and D plant, plastic and others will be converted into RDF, biodegradable waste will be converted into compost. The area will be 100 per cent cleared of the waste.
