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Waste disposal continues to raise a stink in Panchkula
While Indore – which has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for six consecutive years – has successfully implemented six-bin waste segregation, the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) is struggling to enforce segregation of dry and wet waste.
The National Green Tribunal slapping a ₹9-crore fine on the Panchkula municipal corporation has catapulted pervasive waste mismanagement in the city into the limelight.
While Indore – which has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for six consecutive years – has successfully implemented six-bin waste segregation, the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) is struggling to enforce segregation of dry and wet waste.
The city, which generates around 200 tonnes of waste per day, lacks a solid waste management plant. In a slapdash move, the MC had shifted the dumping site from Sector 23 to Jhuriwala village in July 2021, where the unsegregated waste continues to raise a stink, both literally and figuratively.
Around 2.5 lakh tonnes of legacy waste has spread across 10 acres of land in Jhuriwala. With no provision made for treatment of leachate, toxins are mixing with the water channel, which drains into Ghaggar river.
The stench from the site and water pollution have triggered a mass protest with residents of nine sectors in the trans-ghaggar area, Moginand, Bana and Madanpur villages taking to the streets. Sector 25 Resident Welfare Association president BR Mehta said, “The dumping site is just 500m away from the residential area and 1km away from Khol-Hai-Raitan Wildlife Sanctuary.”
Parshant, who lives in Sector 25 , says, “Residents are facing breathing issues because of proximity to the dumping site. We cannot even step outside for a walk because of the stench. Many elderly persons are complaining of a burning sensation in the eyes. The quality of water has also deteriorated.”
Where is the city lacking?
A senior municipal corporation officer said, “The Panchkula MC lacks the will to make the city garbage-free. The corporation has failed to come up with an integrated system for collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste.”
“We need a rigorous waste management system, where segregated waste from households is monitored to ensure waste is collected in separate bins. Officials should ensure that dry and wet waste is transported in separate containers to the respective waste processing plants,” the official said.
In April, the MC had hired a private company to take over garbage collection from door-to-door collectors, so that waste could be collected. As many as 99 garbage pickup trucks were rolled out to collect segregated waste from across Panchkula, except Sectors 23, 24, 27 and 29, which fall under the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). However, Citizens Welfare Association president SK Nayar says, “The new garbage collectors do not come at a fixed time, nor do they ring the bell to announce their arrival and move from the lanes quickly, leaving residents high and dry.” “The corporation’s attempt to collect segregated waste, a crucial first step towards a clean city, has failed,” he said. Deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Sura said, “We have found that the company has been lagging in collecting segregated waste. It could not collect segregated waste from even 50% of the households. Therefore, the MC has imposed a ₹25 lakh fine on it.”
He also said that action will be taken against unauthorised persons found collecting waste. “From this week on, we will start lodging FIRs against the independent garbage collectors,” Sura said.
Ideally, the segregated waste should be directed dumped at the processing sites. However, the city has over 80 secondary garbage sites in the district, from where garbage is taken to the Jhuriwala dumping ground.
“Once the company starts collecting waste effectively, these secondary dumping points will be cleared,” Sura said.
“While wet waste is sent to a company in Ambala, dry waste is processed at the Jhuriwala dumping ground. The district still does not have a solid waste management plant as we do not have permission for it yet,” Sura said, adding, “As a result, garbage trucks dump unsegregated waste on the Jhuriwala dumping ground, a site, which was originally selected for setting up the solid waste management project.”
A visit to the site reveals a large chunk of forested land, just adjacent to the Yamunanagar-Panchkula Highway, covered with garbage. Ragpickers can be seen sifting through the waste for valuable items, while cows and wild animals can be seen picking at eatables.
What’s next?
A week after the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT’s) principal bench imposed a fine of ₹10 crore on the Panchkula and Kalka municipal corporations for unscientific dumping of waste on the land allotted for the solid waste management project at Jhuriwala village, Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta has called a meeting and sought a report of all violations within the week. He intends to raise the issue with the environmental minister. He also reprimanded officers on the delay in setting up a waste management plant. At the same time, mayor Kulbhushan Goyal has directed the private company to process the waste within the month and clear the site.
“The MC must learn from this episode, and select a suitable site to set up the waste management plant as per the norms and keeping in mind the environment,” he said.
