After ‘MCD trucks controversy,’ Ghaziabad civic body turns to old vendor for waste processing

The waste processing was hindered by recent factors like rain and Kanwar Yatra diversions, but the primary issue arose from a dispute between the corporation and the concessionaire of the Morta waste processing plant concerning trucks from Delhi

Ahead of the ‘Swachh Survekshan - 2023,’ the Ghaziabad municipal corporation has faced challenges with solid-waste collection and processing facilities, prompting a return to their previous vendor, Geron Engineering, officials aware of the development said.

Ghaziabad city generates about 1400 metric tonnes of daily solid waste. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Ghaziabad city generates about 1400 metric tonnes of daily solid waste.

The waste processing was hindered by recent factors like rain and Kanwar Yatra diversions, but the primary issue arose from a dispute between the corporation and the concessionaire of the Morta waste processing plant concerning trucks from Delhi.

The issue erupted when city mayor Sunita Dayal seized nine trucks on June 30, claiming they belonged to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and were transporting solid waste to Ghaziabad’s Morta for processing.

On her directions, an FIR was lodged against Geron Engineering, alleging that Ghaziabad was being charged for processing Delhi’s waste. However, Geron Engineering denied the accusations, presenting evidence that the trucks were carrying refuse-derived fuel to their private plant in Bahadarpur, not Morta. MCD also refuted the claims, asserting that no waste was sent to Ghaziabad for processing.

Despite the internal inquiry, the corporation failed to attract bidders in response to the expression of interest (EOI) for a new vendor.

Nitin Gaur, municipal commissioner, said, “No bidders came forward so far in response to the expression of interest (EOI). We have asked Geron to start waste processing at Morta (which was shut down by the land owner) and also at our new site. The fresh waste is transported to a new site at Shahpur (near Morta) where land has been identified. It is a new site, and it is spread over an area of 20 bighas. The processing here will be taken up by Geron Engineering and if they refuse, we will deduct the processing charges from their pending payment.”

“After the FIR, the police are taking up the investigation and our internal inquiry is also pending,” Gaur added.

Meanwhile, when approached, the officials of Geron Engineering declined comments on the latest developments.

In previous Swachh Survekshan editions, Ghaziabad achieved decent rankings, and they now seek to improve further by completing around 8 lakh feedbacks from citizens before August 15 to enhance their SS ranking.

However, the officials of the corporation said that about 180 trucks carrying solid waste have started trips to the new site at Shahpur.

“We are trying to streamline the solid waste collection and processing at the earliest as the ‘Swachh Survekshan - 2023’ (SS-2023) teams will start arriving. We may lose points if the activities remain hampered and there is no proper disposal of solid waste. Our different departments have been assigned tasks for the completion of citizens’ feedback as part of SS-2023. The deadline is August 15 and we intend to complete about 8 lakh such feedback to improve our SS ranking,” said Mithilesh Kumar, the corporation’s city health officer.

The city during 2022 Swachh Survekshan secured a national rank of 12 in the category of cities having a population between 1 to 4 million. The city in the 2021 edition secured a rank of 18 under the category. During the previous Survekshan in the year 2020, the city secured the 19th position while in 2019 it secured the 13th rank.