No decision on revision of tipping fee to company lifting garbage

Ludhiana: The civic authorities are unable to reach any conclusion about the revision of tipping fee to be given to private company for lifting of garbage from secondary collection points.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu had formed a committee to take a decision on the revision, but the panel members gave the decision rights to him and the commissioner. Now again the mayor has announced that the matter will be decided in the finance and contracts committee meeting.
Sandhu said, “I will do whatever the committee members will recommend. We will fix the revised tipping fee in the F&CC meeting.”
One of the members of sub-committee and Congress councillor Jaiprakash said, “The committee has agreed on revision of tipping fee and we will shortly submit a report to the mayor and the commissioner.”
Garbage processing at the Tajpur Road dump had been stopped and before the authorities could take any decision to restart it, the tipping fee issue left them in a tight spot. The MC had served a notice on A2Z Waste Management Company and their services ended on February 4, following which processing of garbage was stopped at the dump. Then the civic body gave the waste lifting work to another firm, which demanded revision of tipping fee due to increase in diesel rates.
The company had threatened to stop lifting after June 30 if the rates were not revised, forcing the mayor to form a sub-committee. The committee members conducted a meeting and decided to give the powers to the mayor and the commissioner.
Garbage piles up at Tajpur Road dump
The city generates 1,100 tonnes of garbage daily and since the closure of the processing plant at main dump, much of it is getting piled up. The authorities are yet to officially hire a company for running the processing plant at the dump. The officials also could not start the bioremediation of legacy waste kept at the dump as directed by the National Green Tribunal committee members.
Underground water polluted
The members of the NGT committee have directed the civic officials to ensure that nobody drinks groundwater in areas up to 2km from the dump as it is polluted. Moreover, many a time garbage catches fire at the dump and poisonous smoke reaches the houses of people living nearby.