Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 30

If the civic body fails to manage the construction and demolition waste timely, it may have to pay the environmental compensation. The NGT panel has recently asked the Municipal Corporation (MC) to ensure management of construction and demolition waste within three months, otherwise environmental compensation would be imposed on it.

A plant for the management of construction and demolition waste is yet to be set up at Dhandari Kalan.

However, tenders have been floated for the construction of a boundary wall at the site where the plant has to be set up under the Smart City Mission.

In the absence of any such construction and demolition (C&D) waste management plant at present, the construction, and demolition waste is being dumped on roadsides and vacant sites in the city, causing inconvenience to the public.

Heaps of such construction waste can be seen in some green belt areas of the city. The waste generated during demolition drives, conducted by the civic body, was also being dumped along with the Buddha Nullah and at other locations.

A resident of Chandigarh Road, Jagjeet Singh, said: “It is a common practice in the city as debris is being dumped on vacant plots or roadsides. Such practices should be stopped at the earliest. The authorities concerned should take necessary steps for waste management at the earliest.”

The MC had been planning to set up a plant for the management of the C&D waste in the city for a long time. The project was later shifted under the Smart City Mission.

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu had also visited Jodhpur to study the functioning of the C&D waste management plant last year.

The estimated cost of the plant in Ludhiana would be around Rs 12 crore, as per information.

Meanwhile, Superintending Engineer Rahul Gagneja could not be contacted for comments.

Debris dumped on roadsides irks public

In the absence of any construction and demolition (C&D) waste management plant at present, the construction and demolition waste is being dumped on roadsides and vacant sites in the city, causing inconvenience to the public.