At the Dadumajra garbage dumping ground in Chandigarh. (Express Photo: Kamleshwar Singh, File)The Chandigarh Environment Standing Committee Monday expressed its displeasure on the way the segregated garbage is collected from door to door but thrown together in the dumping ground without following the concept of segregation. The committee was informed about the need to adopt a holistic approach towards the Tricity instead of Chandigarh if the city’s air quality is to be kept up to the mark.
The concerns were raised in the first post-COVID-19 virtual meeting of the committee attended by committee chairman, former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, UT director (environment) Debendra Dalai, and other members, including MC Chief Engineer Shaliender Singh. Officers of Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) too attended the meeting.
Although an action taken report was presented over the issues which were highlighted at the last meeting in February, the committee did not find it up to the mark. The meeting lasted almost two hours. The issues of air pollution, air quality and less air pollution on the day of Diwali were also discussed. Bansal said, “The MC representative claimed that segregated garbage is being collected from all 26 wards. The ground reports suggest the segregated collection cannot serve any purpose if it is thrown together in the dumping ground. The MC representative informed us that 399 specific vehicles for collecting the segregated garbage are to arrive in Chandigarh. The MC has submitted before NGT to fulfill all the conditions of garbage segregation till December 31 this year.”
Sources said the issue of solid waste management cannot be discussed at length as the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) did not attend the meeting due to medical reasons. The representatives informed the committee that the solid waste lying at different locations in the southern sectors has already been removed.
UT director (environment) Debendra Dalai said, “Chandigarh has the best green cover in the region. The city has minimal sources of emission, pollution. Despite these, sometimes the air quality index of city falls in the poor category. Chandigarh cannot do it alone. We should expand our work up to Mohali and Panchkula. A joint action team is required for this purpose.”
However, the committee expressed its satisfaction on the efforts made to clean the air pollution in Chandigarh. The committee’s last meeting was held on February 27.