Waste management in Chandigarh: HC notice on plea for probe into MC’s claims

The high court bench of acting chief justice G S Sandhawalia and justice Lipita Banerji acted in the plea from Amit Sharma, a petitioner in a PIL, seeking investigation into the submission of a tampered detailed project report (DPR) on waste management before the court

The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) on an application filed by a Sector 27 resident alleging “deceptive claims” by the corporation regarding future waste management projects in the city and processing being done at Dadu Majra.

The petition seeking clearing of legacy waste is pending since 2016 and Amit Sharma had become a petitioner in 2021 in the PIL. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The high court bench of acting chief justice G S Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji acted on the plea from Amit Sharma, a petitioner in a PIL, seeking investigation into the submission of an alleged tampered detailed project report (DPR) on waste management before the high court.

The petition seeking clearing of legacy waste is pending since 2016 and Sharma had become a petitioner in 2021 in the PIL.

The application said in response to an earlier application seeking prosecution of officers for filing false affidavits and misleading statements in court, the MC in November 2023, submitted a “tampered DPR”. “Upon scrutiny of the DPR, the petitioner identified significant irregularities, including discrepancies in the expertise of the person who signed the report, who was from electrical engineering in IIT instead of civil engineering, which is required for this project, and over 150 handwritten tampering on financial estimates. The DPR also deviated from prescribed guidelines, violating the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and directives from the National Green Tribunal,” the application stated.

Application further said that MC had ignored cost-effective solutions offered by various local entities including NITTTR, PEC, RWAs, and competent residents. “The respondents’ focus has solely been on expensive tenders, with no tangible results on the ground or any semblance of accountability for over 20 years,” it added.

At present, the civic body collects around 550 metric ton (MT) garbage daily, of which around 374 MT is wet waste while the remaining is dry waste, including horticulture and sanitary waste. It has initiated a project to set up an integrated solid waste processing plant, which is going to take another 24 months for getting operational. As of legacy waste of about 13 lakh MT, the bio-remediation is underway and is to be completed by month end.