Three months after the municipal corporation (MC) signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, for installation of two biogas plants of five metric tonnes each at the cost of Rs. 2 crore, BARC will start work in the first week of February. These plants will be set up at the Industrial Area, Phase 1, in Sector 26.
The MC came up with the proposal after the garbage-processing plant in Dadumajra could not process vegetable waste, mixed waste and waste coming from hotels, which is currently being dumped in open grounds.
In a House meeting in May 2014, it was decided that the proposal for consultancy by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in Nagpur to develop a comprehensive municipal solid-waste management plan for the city will be taken up along with BARC proposal.
Confirming the development, a senior MC official said, "First we need to make advance payment of `87 lakh, which also needs approval of the House. But we are hopeful of getting it during the MC House meeting scheduled to be held in the last week of January. BARC is expected to start work in the first week of February."
The MoU states that the BARC will not be responsible for any loss or damage whatsoever resulting due to implementation of the technology at the premises of the user or due to implementation of the same at the premises of the MC.
Any dispute or differences arising out of interpretation of any of the clauses listed above or otherwise will be resolved by mutual consultation, and if arbitration is needed, the matter will be referred to the BARC director.
City generates 350-400 MT waste
Chandigarh generates 350-400 metric tonnes of solid waste in a day, which is managed by the MC through sector welfare associations, sehaj safai kendras and garbage processing plant operated by Jai Prakash Associates in Dadumajra.
NEERI PROJECT FAILS TO TAKE OFF
To study different aspects of garbage treatment and disposal, a six-member committee, including former mayor Raj Bala Malik, had gone on a two-day visit to the Nagpur plant in Maharashtra on October 17, 2012.
A proposal for consultancy by the NEERI on developing a solid waste management plan for the MC was approved, and it was decided the MC would spend Rs. 52 lakh on it. The proposal for consultancy was supposed to cover three phases, but nothing has been done so far.
Surinder Bahga, who was a part of the committee, said, "We had demanded that the project should be discussed in the House first, but officials never placed before it."