Despite numerous complaints of the poor pace of waste disposal at the Shivri plant, Ecogreen, the company in charge of the site, has sent a bill of ₹8.5 crore to the Lucknow municipal corporation. The company has said that the payment will be used to run its waste disposal plant at its full capacity. At the same time, the company said that in July, it managed to collect the user charge of about ₹2 crore, which amounts to 25% of the total 75%, it can collect.
According to additional municipal commissioner Pankaj Singh, Ecogreen was supposed to collect service charges from around 75% of houses. However, it’s difficult to believe when the company says it managed to collect from only 25% of houses. “Not only that, but the company officials also claimed that about ₹35 lakh were embezzled from the collected amount. In this regard, a case has been registered against two managers of third-party agency AS Systems,” he said.
During the inspection of the landfill site on July 15, divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob had given the company 15 days to start operating the plant at its full capacity. But the company now claims that it can do it by September.
Additional municipal commissioner Pankaj Singh said, “LMC has been unhappy with the company for running the plant in an unprofessional manner and allowing heaps of waste to collect at the site for years. The company wants the money to run the plant but LMC has already given enough money in the past but it has always disappointed us. Now it’s the time for the company to perform or face action.”