Though the MC and A to Z Waste Management Company are fighting with each other over solid waste management, it has affected the sanitation conditions in various parts of Ludhiana. Ashwani Dhiman

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, December 27

The Municipal Corporation (MC) and the company engaged for door-to-door collection of garbage, its disposal and management, seem to be on a warpath with the civic body having given an ultimatum to the private firm to carry out the work strictly as per terms and conditions and the company, in turn, having served a 45-day termination notice charging the MC with failure to decide certain issues regarding the solid waste management in the city.

In fact, the work being done by the private company for the door-to-door garbage collection, transportation from primary to secondary collection point and then on to dumping site for the final disposal, has always been mired in controversy with allegations of its performance being below par on various counts. Not only this, it had also fared badly in the targeted coverage of door-to-door collection of garbage, delay in lifting waste from container point and its transportation to dumping site.

The flash in the pan were the recent observations of the monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) about the non-processing of garbage in the solid waste plant and Municipal Corporation officials’ assertions that the company had failed to cover the entire city under the door-to-door collection as per terms and conditions of the agreement.

Senior MC officials confirmed that the company had served a 45-day termination notice upon the Municipal Corporation which would expire on February 4, 2021. It was also stated officially that the company was under fire for poor performance where segregation and processing of waste was concerned and also in the work related to door-to-door collection of garbage, its transportation and final disposal.

Sources in the MC, however, point out that the termination notice served by the A to Z Waste Management Company was just a ploy to build counter pressure and avoid any drastic action by the MC or the NGT against the company for poor performance.

It was also learnt that the management of the company was also upset on the persistent failure of the state government to decide rates of electricity produced from refuse derived fuel (RDF) at the Nakodar plant of the firm which had to be closed for this reason and absence of alternative buyers for the RDF (end product of waste material after processing).

The MC officials indicated that the City Mayor, MC Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Sabharwal, along with other officials concerned, would convene a meeting probably on Monday and chalk out a strategy to deal with the situation arising on the sanitation front if the company sticks to its decision to quit.