Ludhiana MC panel goes to Delhi, Rajasthan to study waste mgmt model

As the civic body is working to hire new contractors for solid waste management in the city, the companies dealing with waste management in these areas have invited the committee to look into its work.

A 12-member committee comprising councillors and municipal corporation (MC) officials led by mayor Balkar Sandhu on Wednesday went on a three-day visit to Okhla in Delhi and Barawadi in Rajasthan to study the waste management models there.

The MC has been facing flak over its apathy in dealing with the solid waste in the city. (HT FILE)

The committee members include mayor Balkar Sandhu, senior deputy mayor Sham Sundar Malhotra, councillors Dr Jai Prakash, Gurdeep Neetu, Harbhajan Singh Dang, Swarandeep Chahal, Baljinder Bunty, superintending engineer Rajinder Singh, secretary Jasdev Sekhon, health officer Vipal Malhotra and Harpal Aujla.

As the civic body is working to hire new contractors for solid waste management in the city, the companies dealing with waste management in these areas have invited the committee to look into its work. An MC committee had also visited Chennai to study the solid waste management model there last month.

While there is a waste to energy plant and waste to compost plants in Okhla, the MC committee will visit the factory unit of a company where machinery including, static compactors, etc., are manufactured.

Mayor Sandhu said that the MC is studying different solid waste management methods/techniques adopted by various companies before finalising the contractor and the method/technique for disposing of waste generated in the city.

The MC has been facing flak over its apathy in dealing with the solid waste in the city. The monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also recently directed the PPCB to impose a penalty on the civic body for its failure to deal with over 16 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste accumulated at the main dumpsite at Tajpur road. Over 1,100 metric tonnes of garbage, which is generated in the city daily, is getting added to the legacy waste due to MC’s failure to deal with the issue. The residents have also been raising hue and cry over the open dumping of garbage at different points in the city.