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Patiala MC continues to pay lease for unused land
As per records, the MC has paid ₹55 lakh to the village panchayat in the past five years, for the project that has not materialised till date
Even as the Punjab government had scrapped the solid waste management project back in 2017, the Patiala municipal corporation (MC) continues to pay ₹10 lakh lease amount every year for the land acquired to set up the plant.
MC had taken possession of around 20 acre at Dudhar village in Samana subdivision in 2013. The civic body had signed an agreement with the village panchayat to pay lease amount of ₹50,000 per acre (₹10 lakh every year).
In 2017, after coming to power, the Congress-led state government had scrapped the solid waste management project mooted by the former Patiala MC, which was led by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), over some issue in tendering. The project is in a limbo ever since.
As per records, the MC has paid ₹55 lakh to the village panchayat in the past five years, for the project that has not materialised till date. In 2019, the civic body had planned to set up a carcass utilisation plant on the said land, but even that project has failed to take off.
“It is bizarre to pay for an abandoned and unused land. It’s causing added financial burden of ₹10 lakh on the municipal corporation’s exchequer every year,” an official said, on condition of anonymity.
In a meeting held in June last year, the finance and contract committee (F&CC) had decided to pay the lease amount of ₹10 lakh for 2019-2020 financial year with an additional enhancement cost of ₹5 lakh as per the agreement.
MC commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said that after many hiccups, the MC had taken possession of this land in 2013, so, it’s not possible to cancel the agreement. She added that the civic body is planning to utilise the land for some other project.
“Earlier, we had planned to set up a solid waste processing unit here to tackle the garbage nuisance in Patiala, but that did not materialise. Since we are now included in Mohali, we will set up a garbage collection plant at Dhudhar,” she said.
THE INITIAL PLAN
In September 2016, the MC had floated tender for setting up of the plant, for which only one bidder had applied. The MC had given tender to a private company at ₹1,350 per tonne and sent the file to state government for final approval.
However, the local bodies department had raised questions and scrapped the tenders allotted to the lone bidder as the firm had no experience in setting up such a plant.
As per initial requirements, the successful bidder had to manage at least 250 tonne garbage scientifically, besides door-to-door litter collection on daily-basis.
With no door-to-door collection of garbage, litter is seen dumped on roadsides and in vacant plots across city. For over 50 years now, waste of the city is being dumped at an open dumping ground on Sanaur road.
THE NEW PROPOSAL
After the Punjab local bodies department scrapped the solid waste management project (SWMP) last year, the state had mooted the project with the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA)-Patiala cluster. The project cost is pegged at ₹305 crore.
As per the detail project report (DPR), the SWMP has been divided into two parts — compost and refuse-derived fuel (RDF), and sanitary landfill facility (SLF).
The main plant will be set up at Samgauli village in Mohali, while the RDF and SLF are to be setup in Patiala. The project was mooted back in 2010. The project is in the early stage and is being dealt with at the state-level.
