Meerut allows Ghaziabad to dump 200 tonnes of waste daily

GHAZIABAD: The acute problem of solid waste management in Ghaziabad has got a temporary solution with the Meerut Municipal Corporation obliging to a request from GMC to allow dumping of civic waste in its jurisdiction. Though the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation got permission to dump 200 metric tonnes of waste per day, officials said that only one-third of it is required to be sent to Meerut.

The GMC had also placed a similar request with Noida, the permission for which is still awaited.

The solid waste management in Ghaziabad plunged into a crisis as the GMC was forced to stop dumping at Pratap Vihar landfill on the orders of an NGT committee on waste management.

“Even though we have the permission from the Meerut corporation to dump 200 metric tonnes of civic waste in their area, as of now only one-third of it is being sent there because much of it is managed here itself,” said C P Singh, municipal commissioner, GMC. “We have requested Noida also to allow us dump waste in their area but so far we have not received any reply from them. In any case, I don’t think we will need it,” added Singh.

According to CP Singh, Ghaziabad generates nearly 1,000 metric tonnes of waste daily. While 300 metric tonnes are ferried to Pilkhuwa, nearly 200 metric tonnes are used in various GMC-owned parks in the city to prepare compost. “There are more than 1,240 parks under GMC and we have dug up compost pits in all these parks which consume nearly 200 metric tonnes of civic waste,” said Singh. “Apart from this, we have two compost plants, especially for religious waste and fruit vegetable waste which consumes nearly 100 metric tonnes while a small portion is being dumped at Indirapuram landfill site and only the rest will be send to Meerut,” added Singh.

The GMC has five zones in its jurisdiction. While the city zone generates 300 metric tonnes of waste, Kavinagar, Mohan Nagar and Vasundhara zones generate nearly 200 metric tonnes each and Pratap Vihar zone generates nearly 100 metric tonnes. The GMC is also eyeing 19 acres of private land which it intends to take on lease from farmers to create a temporary landfill. “There are many defunct brick kiln owners on the outskirts of Kavinagar and Rajnagar Extension areas. We have successfully negotiated for five acres of these land while negotiations are in the final phase for the remaining patch of land,” said Singh. “Our problem will cease to exist the day we lay our hands on 19 acres of land which I hope will materialise soon,” added Singh.