Gurgaon: Union housing and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday ordered MCG officials to clear the sprawling Bandhwari landfill within one year and submit progress reports every 24 hours to him. The minister ordered regular drone surveys of the landfill site to ensure transparent monitoring of waste processing operations.He directed officials to increase the number of agencies working at the site and warned against any laxity in clearing the garbage mountain. “Identify an alternative site for fresh waste dumping so that newly generated municipal waste does not interfere with the disposal of legacy waste at Bandhwari,” Khattar said during the visit.The minister’s intervention comes despite two agencies already being assigned work orders in March this year to process around 14 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste. However, the MCG officials told TOI that around 1.14 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of waste has been processed so far, even as the landfill continues to hold an estimated 18 lakh MT of accumulated legacy waste.Sources said that Khattar also said that it looks like 30-35 lakh MT of waste is lying at Bandhwari, while the MCG data states that 18.24 lakh MT is lying at the site.The strict monitoring directive underlines the slow pace of waste processing at the site. The Union minister inspected the ongoing bio-mining and waste treatment operations and expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of work.While instructing officials to send him “a daily report every 24 hours detailing the amount of waste processed at the landfill”, he said the site should be completely cleared within the stipulated time frame.Officials informed the minister that two agencies are currently engaged in legacy waste treatment. However, with around 8% of the total estimated waste processed since work orders were issued earlier this year in March, concerns remain over whether the existing infrastructure is capable of meeting the aggressive deadline set by the Centre.Following the inspection, Khattar chaired a review meeting with senior Gurgaon and Faridabad officials at the PWD Rest House, where he stressed that sanitation remains the primary responsibility of municipal corporations.Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent review of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the minister said the Centre aims to develop 50 cities into clean and model urban centres. He added that cities form the “identity of the country” and are often the first impression for foreign visitors. He directed civic authorities to strengthen citywide sanitation systems in mission mode.He also proposed dividing all wards of the city into seven zones under the supervision of senior officers, including additional municipal commissioners and joint commissioners, to enforce accountability and ensure garbage is not visible in public spaces.
