Waste disposal: MCG set to look for more sites

Gurgaon: Gearing up for a scheduled meeting of the nine-member committee constituted to look into waste management at the Bandhwari landfill, MCG is identifying more land parcels where fresh waste can be diverted. In a meeting late on Wednesday evening, a discussion was held on three key points likely to discussed in the meeting, including identifying more land parcels besides five acres of land in Basai for fresh waste, setting up the Bandhwari waste-to-energy plant in a time-bound manner and regularly monitoring the private agencies deployed to process legacy waste at Bandhwari.
“A meeting under the chairmanship of the commissioner was held, in which it was discussed that we need to be ready with more sites for fresh waste disposal. Faridabad should explore a different site and Gurgaon can have multiple separate sites. The committee will make the final decision. We currently have identified only five acres in Basai, which cannot accommodate all the fresh waste of the city, so we discussed identifying more such land parcels,” an MCG official said.
An order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday clearly stated that dumping of fresh waste won’t be allowed at Bandhwari. “Further, with regard to the emergency situation, the state authorities may exercise their jurisdiction to use the nearest available land as per applicable law for a temporary period on payment of user charges,” it stated.
The order further read, “The Bandhwari site which is already in existence for many years and 10 acres of its land which is already cleared may be utilised for setting up waste processing facilities to handle waste generation… In case of non-suitability of the land, alternative arrangements should be explored.”
In August, MCG officials visited five sites in Basai, Daultabad, Nainwal, Kadarpur and Hayatpur to identify land for fresh waste disposal and processing. The Basai plot was found to be the most suitable. “A 92-acre plot was identified by the Faridabad municipal corporation in Mohabbatabad. If Gurgaon also gets approval to dump our fresh waste there, we won’t need any further land for fresh waste. Meanwhile, the parcels of land we identified earlier can also be explored,” said a senior MCG official.