Jalandhar still lacks solid waste mgmt facility
The one-month survey, which started on January 4, will continue till February 4, and cover over 4,000 cities across the country
JALANDHAR:Jalandhar civic body is participating in Swachh Survekshan Survey 2019, a nationwide cleanliness assessment, without a solid wate management facility in the city. With this, the municipal corporation has taken part for the third time in the survey without the facility.
The one-month survey, which started on January 4, will continue till February 4 in over 4,000 cities across the country. The cleanliness assessment is being carried out by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry and will be measured on various set parameters.
Notably, the solid waste treatment plant is a major component under the cleanliness survey. While the civic body here has been planning to set up a bio-mining waste plant in Wariana dumpsite area since September 2017, the project is yet to see the light of the day. The bio-mining plant project was to come up at a cost of Rs 24 crore.
In addition to bio-mining waste plant, Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) had also given clearance for setting waste to compost plant under the decentralised model.
As a pilot project, the waste to compost plant was to be setup in one ward of every constituency.
Both the project, however, witnessed the opposition from some of the city councillors, who were against the proposal of having waste treatment plant of any nature in their area.
Even during the house meeting held in March last year, several west segment councillors, including Congress councillors Lakhvir Singh Bajwa from ward number 76, BJP councillor Sweta Dhir of ward number 77 along with the other opposition councillors, collectively opposed the move of the MC to purchase more land near Wariana dump site for setting up the plant.
When contacted, Mayor Jagdish Raja informed that the they are targeting to execute the bio mining project in the city by the end of March.
“We have already started the process of setting waste compost plant at around 30 locations in the city. It took a long while before the local bodies department gave the clearance to the bio-mining project, but we are doing our best to gain points in other segments of cleanliness assessment,” Jagdish Raja said.
BIO-MINING METHOD
Bio-mining is an environmentfriendly method for treating old open waste dumps with zero emission of landfill gases or drain discharge. Under the bio-mining method, combustible and non-combustible wastes are segregated and treated separately, recycled and reused.
Even the soil left after treating the waste can be used for agriculture purposes, while the aggregates like glass, rubber and plastic are given to the recycling plants.
WASTE TO COMPOST PLANT METHOD
Under this method, the biodegradable waste is segregated from the non-biodegradable waste. The bio-degradable wastes that also include kitchen waste or dry leaves are put in the compost pot. The decomposition of the waste produces compost which is used in gardening or other agricultural purposes.