Garbage problem gets murkier

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 16

The garbage problem in the city has got murkier. While the garbage processing plant run by JP Group has run out of space to accept waste brought there by MC trucks. The Sehaj Safai Kendras (SSKs) in the city paint a dirty picture as MC trucks have failed to lift the entire garbage.

A MC truck driver said due to slow unloading of garbage inside the plant, they could not lift entire garbage from SSKs. He said it took hours to enter the plant as it doesn’t have space for more garbage.

Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla said the situation had reached the alarming level and posed a serious health hazard to residents.

Heaps of garbage are seen across the city. The MC generates approximately 350 to 400 tonnes of waste daily. The situation has turned worse at the fruit and vegetable market in Sector 26.

Garbage plant officials said the waste MC was sending for processing was not segregated and included horticultural waste. Wet garbage also reduced the plant’s performance by 50 per cent. Sources said since the plant failed to process the entire waste, heaps of garbage had come up on its premises.

The issue of solid waste management was also under the scanner of National Green Tribunal (NGT), which has directed the plant management and the MC to process all waste.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner KK Yadav visited the garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra on Tuesday evening. He found that from about 450 trips a day, MC vehicles were now making 202 rounds a day. He checked the logbook and daily entries of MC vehicles carrying garbage to the processing plant.

He ordered the MOH to make arrangements to clear the backlog of waste gathered at Sehaj Safai Kendras in the city within 48 hours. He directed the sanitation officials concerned to monitor the processing of garbage at the JP plant 24X7.

The MC chief ordered the MOH to issue notice to the plant authorities for not creating right conditions to receive garbage.

Yadav directed the plant authorities to maintain proper logbook of the timings of garbage-laden MC vehicles entering and exiting the plant. He also told them to ensure proper and scientific disposal of rainwater. He directed them to process the entire garbage lying at the plant and the waste brought by MC vehicles.