Dadumajra residents up in arms against new waste processing plant

Residents of Dadumajra, along with area councillor Kuldeep Dhalor, on Thursday demonstrated outside the Dadumajra dumping ground to protest against the municipal corporation’s decision to set up a new integrated waste processing plant at the site.

The MC House on June 6 had passed the proposal of setting up the new plant at the Dadumajra landfill.

Aimed at effectively tackling the city’s daily waste generation of 550 metric tonnes (MT), the new plant, with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, is proposed to comprise three facilities – one each for dry, wet and horticulture waste.

Spread over 20 acres, it will be set up on a part of the landfill after clearing the area and as per proposal, the project will be allotted for 17 years, including two years for construction, and 15 years for operation and maintenance.

Dhalor, who is from AAP, said, “The locals are demanding that the new plant be set up at a different location in the city’s peripheries, as people are already troubled due to the existing garbage. MC should find an alternative site to set up the temporary as well as integrated waste processing plant.”

“The area residents are living in hell due to the garbage dump. In almost every house located in the vicinity of the landfill, people are suffering from various ailments, including allergies, asthma, skin ailments, tuberculosis, cancer, paralysis and other chronic diseases. Even though people complain regularly, there is only one government dispensary in the ward. There is also just one dermatologist and a limited number of general physicians. People are forced to visit GMSH, Sector 16, and PGIMER even for minor ailments or consultation. We request authorities to relocate the dump so that people can live here safely,” he added.

Congress to meet UT administrator today

A delegation of the Chandigarh Congress will meet the UT administrator on Friday to request him to declare all proceedings of the June 6 House meeting as null and void.

“The Congress leaders attending the meeting were unanimous in their view that important agendas, having significant bearing on the lives of people of the city, were passed without discussion in an illegal manner by the BJP with tacit support of AAP councillors. Chandigarh generates more than 550 tonnes of waste every day, which is more than the capacity of the proposed treatment plant. Hence, the future needs of the city have not been taken into account,” said Rajiv Sharma, spokesperson of the Chandigarh Congress.

At present, the civic body collects around 550 tonnes of garbage daily, of which around 374 tonnes is wet waste, while the remaining is dry waste. MC is operating a wet waste plant at Dadumajra, whose capacity, even after upgrades and extensions, is less than 200 tonnes daily. As such, most of city’s daily waste is dumped at the Dadumajra landfill without processing, leading to mountains of waste.