Chief secy sets Nov 30 deadline to process legacy waste at Bandhwari

GURGAON: Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday set November 30 as the fresh deadline for legacy waste processing at Bandhwari, after the civic body claimed that it could not meet the September 30 deadline earlier set by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The chief secretary gave these directions during a virtual meeting with the officers of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) department, MCG and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) officials.
“The officials will ensure that the entire legacy waste is processed by November 2023. They will also ensure timely disposal of refuse derived fuel (RDF) by utilising GPS-enabled vehicles. It will enhance the efficiency, transparency and accountability in RDF disposal processes,” the chief secretary said.
Kaushal also directed officials to regularly monitor the calorific value of processed waste at the plant and identify and finalise two more landfill sites in the city within a specific timeline. He also emphasised the need to increase daily waste processing capacity at Bandhwari and asked MCG commissioner PC Meena to fix timelines for each activity and designate officers responsible for achieving the targets.
Moreover, he told officials to ensure that work on the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant commences by June 25. The civic body officials said that 25,000 metric tonnes of RDF will be disposed of at the JBM waste-to-energy plant (WTE) facility in Murthal by September 30.
Meena informed that the civic body has developed 2.5 acres of land at Bandhwari for fresh waste disposal and dumping operations have commenced since April 15. He assured the chief secretary that efforts are underway to identify additional landfill sites. He also presented a roadmap for processing the legacy waste during the meeting. At present 8,000 tonnes of legacy waste is being processed every day, officials informed.
The MCF officials said that decentralised waste processing facilities with a capacity of 890 tonnes per day (TPD) are being established at various sites adding that the work of establishing a fresh waste processing facility at Mujhari is likely to commence within the next 15 days over four acres of land. This site is being developed at a cost of Rs. 1.71 crore and will have a capacity to process 259 TPD. Another waste processing site at Pratapgarh is also being developed over 4 acres of land with a capacity of 250 TPD at a cost of Rs. 1.67 crore.