Much touted Rs 37-crore waste biomining project hanging fire

Tribune News Service

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, January 11

Smart City projects have only brought embarrassment to the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (MC) as none has been completed even after several years. The city is already in a mess.

After the technical evaluation, financial bids will be opened for shortlisting a new firm for managing the biomining project. Now, that we are looking after the project, the priority is to expedite the process and deal with waste. Sukhwinder Singh, XEN, Municipal Corporation

Smart City projects were advertised and praised repeatedly when announced, but nobody knew that years would pass and nothing much would happen on the ground level. Much touted Rs 37-crore waste biomining project is one such project that has been hanging fire.

In 2017, the project was planned to manage and process the waste at the Wariana dump. A detailed report of the project was also prepared. The year 2023 has passed, but the much-talked-about project is yet to take off. The heaps of garbage at the Wariana dump have only grown bigger with the passage of time.

Not only this, the previous company handling the project was blacklisted by the MC. Now, the process is on to find another company for the project.

At present, eight lakh metric tonnes of waste is lying at the Wariana dump site. A mountain of garbage oversees the city. The overflowing waste spews toxins into the air. People living in areas near the Wariana dump site are surviving amidst pollution and diseases.

The city generates above 450 tonnes of garbage every day. Other small dump sites are also filled to capacity. To tackle the problem, a waste biomining project was to be implemented. However, only a shed was constructed at the site and that too was not completed.

Not even a single machine arrived to start work under the project. As per information, 14 different types of machines were to arrive from Nagpur for the project in April last year and the waste processing was to start in May, but nothing happened. The company which got blacklisted was to complete the processing of eight lakh metric tonnes of waste in two years. At present, technical bids for shortlisting a new firm have been opened. After that officials concerned would look into financial bids.

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