JITF to install 8-MW power plant in city

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 16

Jindal Infrastructure Limited (JITF) company will install a power plant of 8 megawatt at the solid waste treatment plant here. It will be the first plant in the state that will generate energy from garbage.

The solid waste treatment plant was constructed at an initial cost of Rs 30 crore here. The objective of the plant was to treat garbage from the city and 18 nearby cities as well, besides producing organic fertiliser and RDF from the waste. The JITF company had proposed that it would set up a plant for generating energy in the second phase.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) had signed an agreement with the JITF company to run the plant. But after its completion, residents demanded the shifting of the plant from the residential area. Several protest by them created hurdles for the company to operate the plant freely.

The quality of the RDF produced by the plant was not good. The plant turned out to be a loss-making entity. Then, a series of objections cropped up between the company and the MC at the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

During the recent hearing, the NGT told the company to install an energy plant of 8 megawatt here. The NGT also directed the local authorities to provide 500 metric tonnes of garbage daily from the entire cluster. The company will segregate and dispose of the garbage.

At present, the plant is getting around 120 metric tonnes of garbage daily and even the entire cluster is also producing around 350 metric tonnes of garbage daily, due to which it will be an uphill task for the authorities to provide 500 metric tonnes of garbage to the company.

The NGT has directed the government to fullfil all basic needs of the company to run the plant. The JITF company has also been told to improve the quality of RDF manufactured in the plant. The company was asked to submit a report regarding the energy plant within 15 days to the NGT.

During the hearing, the company told the NGT that it was facing a huge loss as the MC was paying the less tipping fee to it as compared to other parts of the country. It said currently, the MC was paying Rs 300 per tonne whereas the company across the state was getting around Rs 1500-1600 as the tipping fee per tonne.

The company also demanded that the administration should provide 500 metric tonnes of garbage at its doorstep and they would process it by installing an energy plant.