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| Jammu Solid Waste Treatment Plant-still in a chaotic state…! | | | KUNAL SHRIVATSA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 20 Even as Jammu city continues to churn out tonnes of solid and bio-medical waste every day, the establishment of a Solid Waste Treatment Plant here is still a distant dream, thanks to the lackadaisical approach of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and allied agencies.
The fate of much-needed and much-ambitious treatment plant still hangs in balance due to the "indecisiveness" on part of the two prestigious executing agencies viz JMC and Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA).
It is estimated that about 300 metric tonnes of solid waste and 1.2 tonnes of bio-medical waste is being churned out in the city everyday.
The project to set up a treatment plant with an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore had been assigned to the ERA for which the JMC had identified 158 kanals of land at Kot Bhalwal in 2006. "The project could not see the light of the day in view of indecisiveness over the execution of work. The ERA had sought nearly 100 kanals of land for establishment of the plant, however, it dropped the idea of establishing the plant at Kot Bhalwal following strong resentment of the people residing in the area," said sources.
"Following strong resentment, it was decided that the project would be shifted to Kunjwani where 64 kanals of land of the Corporation was available. The available land was not sufficient to establish such a huge plant and it was re-shifted to Kot Bhalwal," added sources
Speaking to Early Times, Commissioner JMC, Mubarak Singh, confirmed that both ERA and the civic body are "indecisive" over execution of work. "The treatment plant will be set up at Kot Bhalwal only. Since ERA didn't take up the work, we engaged a private agency for formulating a Detailed Project Report (DPR), which is expected to be ready with in a month's time."
Referring to the delay in execution of work, he said, "Making of DPR is a lengthy exercise. This is why too much of time is being consumed. As soon as the DPR is completed, we would send it to Government of India for release of funds for the project," adding "After going through this process, we would invite expression of interests from reputed firms for setting up of this project," he said.
According to sources, initially, the project would be operationalised on BOOT system (Built Operate Own and Transfer) under which the Corporation would provide garbage and solid waste to the executing agency for its disposal. The organisation would make profit by selling the manure which would be generated after the proper disposal of the waste.
Sources further said that the State Pollution Control Board has already issued No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the project at Kot Bhalwal describing it as "indispensable for the city"
A senior official in the Health and Medical Education Department seeking anonymity said, "The bio-medical waste being produced in the hospitals is treated in incinerators while that of private nursing homes is sent to Pathankot, which has a common treatment plant."
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