Chandigarh MC to take over waste plant today

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 18

After years of tussle, the Municipal Corporation (MC) is finally going to take over the Jaypee Group-run waste processing plant on Friday.

The civic body today served a notice on the company asking it handover the plant at 5 pm on Friday. “We sought an expert advise from the UT senior standing counsel. Following which, we served them a notice,” said an MC official.

“The district court had asked the company to appoint an arbitrator. But, it has not done the needful. The three-month stay order of the court is also over. And now, there is no stay from any other court,” he added.

NK Vohra, in-charge of the plant, did not respond to repeated phone calls for his comments on the issue.

“They have not decided on the waste processing machines yet. If the company wants to take it away they can or we will run them on own. Our main focus tomorrow will be on taking back our land,” said an official concerned of the MC.

On March 12, the local court had stayed the notice issued by the MC for the termination of the contract of the processing plant, run by Jaypee Group at Dadu Majra in Chandigarh, for three months.

Before this, the MC General House had approved termination of the contract with the company. Municipal Commissioner KK Yadav had issued a termination notice to the firm.

The MC, in its notice to the firm, had claimed that the plant was processing only 120 metric tonnes of waste per day while the city generated 470 metric tonnes of garbage. The plant had not been working to its optimum capacity, the MC added.

The plant was set up in 2008 at a cost of over Rs32 crore to process 500 metric tonnes of garbage per day without any capital subsidy from the MC. For a long time local residents were agitated due to foul smell and non-processing of the waste at plant.