Work on new Gurugram, Manesar waste plants yet to take off

Ravindra Yadav, additional commissioner of the MCG, said that in the last three months, they opened the bidding twice; however no agency has submitted a bid so far.

Work on a fresh waste processing site in Gurugram has yet to begin, four months after it was approved by the directorate of Urban Local Bodies (DULB), as currently the city has no fresh waste processing site.

Vaishali Rana, an environmentalist, emphasised the importance of fresh waste processing in the city. (HT PHOTO)

In September last year, the DULB approved the proposal for the site near to the Bandhwari landfill to deal with its ever-growing mountain of waste.

Fresh waste refers to recently generated municipal or household waste collected and processed usually within a week of being produced. If left unprocessed, this waste can decompose within 30 days, making further processing more difficult.

Ravindra Yadav, additional commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) said, “In the last three months, we opened the bidding twice; however no agency has submitted a bid so far. We plan to reopen the tender for the third time in the coming days.”

A senior MCG official said, “MCG sent a proposal for administrative approval amounting to ₹171 crore to invite tenders for a period of 10 years. MCG estimated the cost for processing one tonne of fresh waste at ₹420. The directorate of urban local bodies (ULB) accorded administrative approval of ₹27 crore for a period of three years, with an approved estimate of ₹261 per tonne.”

Meanwhile, Manesar also lacks a fresh waste processing site. Nijesh Manderna, executive engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Manesar (MCM), said the corporation has submitted a proposal to the state government and is awaiting approval. “Earlier, we were told the government would provide land for the site, and the selected agency would process fresh waste. However, the land was allocated for another purpose,” he said.

To be sure, currently the legacy waste from Manesar is processed in IMT Sector 8.

“We have now submitted a new proposal where the agency will process the waste at its own site. We hope it will be approved within the next 15 to 20 days. This proposal is intended to cover the next 10 years,” he added.

Vaishali Rana, an environmentalist, emphasised the importance of fresh waste processing in the city. “Wet waste should not reach the Bandhwari landfill. If that is achieved, half the battle is already won. Yet the corporation seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Every year tenders are floated, agencies either bid or back out, and the city continues to suffer as unprocessed waste piles up. Fresh waste processing is crucial for both environmental and public health,” she said.

Meanwhile, MCG officials said operations at the Bandhwari landfill, which receives daily waste from Gurugram and Faridabad, will resume legacy waste processing by the end of February after a six-month halt as the contract with the agencies was expired. Now, two agencies will be taking up the work.

Last week, Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh, while reviewing works at the Bandhwari site, directed that the disposal of legacy waste be completed at the earliest.

Pradeep Dahiya, MCG Commissioner, said that under a new tender, the scientific processing of over 16.8 lakh metric tonnes of waste is scheduled to begin by the end of February, with completion expected within a year.