Poor waste disposal stink reaches Centre; minister flags Chandigarh as laggard

Only 30% solid waste processed, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs says city must get 100% waste processed

A day after a premier hospital in neighbouring Mohali, the news for alleged improper disposal of bio-medical waste, the authorities’ failure to make arrangements for disposal of the waste it generates in routine — all 450 tonne a day — got the city more flak — this time from the Centre.

(From Left) Haryana urban local bodies minister Kavita Jain, minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, and Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu Minister at UT guest house in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Karun Sharma/HT)

“Chandigarh is lagging in solid waste management with only 30% of the generation being processed, though it has achieved 100% door-to-door collection in all 26 wards,” said Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.

He was in the city on Saturday to review the progress of urban development missions of the Central government in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. “The city needs to take rapid steps improve waste processing. Authorities must ensure that 100% waste is processed,” the minister added.

The lone waste processing plant in Dadumajra, that the Jaypee Group runs, has a mountain of waste that it is yet to process — 10,000 tonne. This is lying on the plant premises. The new waste that the city generates relentlessly is thus being dumped opposite the plant without any processing. Over the past year or so, the MC has been sitting over the issue, even as the height of garbage dump has reached five metres, creating strong resentment among the residents. There is the risk of an epidemic, always.

Puri added he will also conduct a follow-up meeting in Delhi in three months.

When contacted, mayor Davesh Moudgil said he had already given directions to the firm to clear the waste on its premises at the earliest and start taking the city’s waste in totality, daily.

“I will again visit the premises in a week’s time. If the process is slow, we will take stern action since the company can’t be allowed to play with city’s cleanliness system,” he said. He said the MC may even go ahead and cancel the contract if it does not mend its ways. “I did not inaugurate the company’s composting facility because I wanted them to first find a way to recycle the compost to be prepared from it,” he said.

Mohali and Panchkula are also struggling to process the waste generated, adding to the problem in the region. Most of the waste is also dumped openly.