New waste plant final call on June 6: Panel to hear out councillors today

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, June 1

A high-powered committee will meet for one last time on Friday and take suggestions from elected representatives on the new waste processing plant proposed to be set up at Dadu Majra. This will be followed by a special Municipal Corporation House meeting on June 6, which will take a final call on the issue.

The meeting, to be chaired by UT Adviser Dharam Pal, will for the first time be attended by Mayor Anup Gupta, besides councillors Gurbax Rawat (Congress), Hardeep Singh (SAD) and Kuldeep Dhalor (AAP).

Garbage mess

• MC plans to set up integrated municipal solid waste processing plant of 550 TPD capacity at Dadu Majra site from where legacy waste has been cleared
• At last MC House meet, agenda was rejected by councillors, who demanded representation of elected representatives at high-powered panel meet
• AAP wants new plant to come up at Sec 25 Jaypee facility, which was taken over by MC three years ago; old plant has already completed its lifespan
• BJP may find it difficult to get agenda passed by MC House due to AAP’s resistance to its location

At the last MC House meeting, the agenda was rejected by councillors, who demanded representation of elected representatives at the meeting. Now, their suggestions will be incorporated during the meeting. On June 6, the civic body will decide whether to approve the setting up of the new plant at Dadu Majra, the site from where the first part of legacy waste has been cleared. However, the ruling BJP may face difficulty in getting the agenda passed due to AAP’s resistance to the location. AAP councillor from Dadu Majra Kuldeep Dhalor has been strongly opposed to the setting up of the plant there.

Senior AAP leader Pardeep Chhabra told Chandigarh Tribune: “We are not against the plant, but its location. It should instead be set up at the existing processing plant in Sector 25, which is not even a residential area.”

Meanwhile, Congress councillors today attended a presentation by the MC on the plant. The party has so far not disclosed the stand to be taken at the House meeting.

While the ruling BJP has already attended the presentation, AAP has chosen to stay away. “Our councillor will raise the location issue at the Adviser’s meeting. Thus, we are not attending the presentation,” added Chhabra.

The MC took the plant from Jaypee firm nearly three years ago, but has failed set up a new plant so far. Following an inspection in August 2020, the IIT-Roorkee had observed all machines at the Sector 25 plant had already completed their lifespan. It had recommended setting up of a modern tonne per day (TPD) plant to treat dry and wet waste.

The civic body proposes to establish an integrated municipal solid waste processing plant of 550 TPD (tonne per day) capacity for 27 years at Dadu Majra by hiring a company through tendering.

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