Ghaziabad garbage units under lens for lack of basic infrastructure

The two waste management sites were set up in 2022 to collect, sort and send residual waste to the civic body’s processing site in Morta

The Ghaziabad municipal commissioner has ordered an inquiry and sought a detailed report about the civic body’s waste management sites or “garbage factories” at Ret Mandi and Sihani after mayor Sunita Dayal discovered several irregularities at the Ret Mandi site during a surprise visit on Tuesday and asked for a full investigation.

The Ret Mandi waste management site in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

“I found several issues during a visit to the garbage factory at Ret Mandi. It just seemed like a huge waste dump, with no actual waste segregation. The machines at the site were removed three months ago. The workers didn’t even have basic protection gear like masks or gloves,” mayor Dayal said, adding that the facilities meant for the workers’ children were locked.

The two waste management sites were set up in 2022 to collect, sort and send residual waste to the civic body’s processing site in Morta. One site, Ret Mandi, handles daily solid waste from the Ghaziabad municipal corporation’s (GMC) city area, while the other one in Sihani handles waste from the Kavi Nagar area.

Each site can segregate 250-300 metric tonnes of daily solid waste. GMC built them because it has no facility to scientifically dispose of the 1,400 metric tonnes of waste it generates daily. There has been a proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in Galand for the past several years, but no construction has begun due to local residents’ opposition.

Municipal commissioner Nitin Gaur directed officials to launch an investigation, and sought a report in two days.

“If problems are found, we will fix them immediately. I’ve talked with officials about the mayor’s visit and the state of the site. They told me that a company has been hired to install a conveyor belt at the site but it has not been built. Waste is being manually sorted, but even that has been stopped due to rains in the last couple of days. The additional municipal commissioner will hold the inquiry,” Gaur said, adding that GMC will correct any mistakes once the report is ready.

Explaining the waste handling process at the two sites, Ghaziabad municipal health officer Mithilesh Kumar said, “The garbage collected from homes is brought to these sites. Until now, sorting was done by hand, but a machine is being set up to do it. A company will turn wet waste into manure, while dry waste will be sorted, and the leftovers will be sent to Morta for further processing.”