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Looking for alternative dumping site: Panchkula MC commissioner
The Panchkula MC commissioner said that the committee to look for another dumping site had been constituted a month ago, but residents continued to stage protests and blocked the movement of garbage trucks.
In the wake of residents’ protests against the dumping of garbage on forest land in Jhhuriwala village, the Panchkula municipal corporation is now looking for an alternative dumping site.
Confirming the development, MC commissioner Varinder Lather said, “We have already constituted a committee to look for an alternative site, which is headed by joint commissioner, Mamta Sharma.”
He said that the committee to look for another dumping site had been constituted a month ago, but residents continued to stage protests and blocked the movement of garbage trucks.
“The protesters have asked for a timeline, which we will be able to provide within 15 days . Garbage will be lifted from the Jhhuriwala dumping ground in the coming months,” he said.
Panchkula generates around 200 metric tonnes of garbage on a daily basis. Earlier, it used to be dumped in Sector 23, but the civic body, allegedly without adequate clearance, later converted 12 acres of forest land in Jhuriwala into a dumping ground. It was followed by protests by residents of the trans-Ghaggar sectors, who complained of foul smell, water contamination and health issued due to open dumping of garbage.
On November 11, the residents had erected tents and stopped the entry of trucks into the dumping ground leading to garbage pile-ups across Panchkula. Two days later, the Panchkula administration in a midnight crackdown, the authorities had evicted at least 100 residents who had been protesting at the entrance of Jhuriwala dumping ground.
Litigations pertaining to the Jhuriwala dumping ground are pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court, with the next hearing on November 29. Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal on November 15.
Protesters to move Human Rights Commission
Protesters have decided to move the Human Rights Commission against the use of water cannons. Jhuriwala Dumping Ground Samiti president Nitesh Mittal said: “It was a pre-planned conspiracy by deputy commissioner Mahavir Kaushik, who levelled false allegations against peacefully protesting residents. He alleged that we had blocked the highway, which was untrue. It was the police, who had diverted traffic from the Yamunanagar-Panchkula highway at two points.”
Mittal said that water cannon was used on residents at midnight, despite no such order being passed by the higher ups.
“We will go to the Human Rights Commission this week and also file a case against the police officer, who slapped a youngster and forced him into a police vehicle, triggering panic,” he said, adding that the authorities took away their chairs, tables, utensils, tents, lights and other products worth ₹50,000 to ₹60,000.
