Ludhiana: A flagship multi-crore-rupee environmental project designed to dismantle this city’s notorious “mountains of trash” has stalled, leaving local residents trapped in a cycle of toxic smoke and bureaucratic delays.The municipal corporation’s (MC) bioremediation project at the Jamalpur dump site is currently moving at a snail’s pace. Despite the urgent environmental mandate, the private contractor took more than 18 months to begin ground operations, citing technical hurdles and delays in securing an electricity connection. To date, only 10% of the targeted legacy waste has been processed.The project was commissioned to settle about 20 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste. However, officials warn that the goal is becoming a mathematical impossibility. While the contractor struggles with the backlog, the city continues to generate 1,100 MT of fresh garbage daily. Without a functional system to process this daily inflow, new trash is simply turning into legacy waste, neutralizing any progress made by the remediation efforts.The history of the site offers little room for optimism. The first phase of the project, which involved processing a smaller pool of 5 lakh MT, languished for more than three years. Under the current contract, the private firm is expected to handle four times that amount — 20 LMT — in just one year. While the contractor is currently processing 4,000 tonnes daily, they claim they will scale up to 10,000 tonnes each day by moving to a 24-hour operational cycle.For those living in the burgeoning residential localities surrounding the dump, the delays are a matter of public health. The massive heaps frequently catch fire, releasing plumes of harmful smoke that cause chronic skin and eye irritation. An MC official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, noted that the segregation of recyclables and organic waste is the only way to prevent these recurring fires, yet the garbage continues to arrive at the site largely unsegregated.Heaps continue to growArvind Kumar, an executive engineer with the MC, maintained that the work is ongoing and expected to accelerate. He stated that a firm assigned to tackle fresh waste would soon begin converting wet waste into compost, a move intended to slow the growth of the trash mountains. The bioremediation project was originally directed by the National Green Tribunal to address the long-standing environmental crisis. However, as the heaps continue to grow and the contractor struggles to meet basic milestones, the authorities remain under fire for their perceived silence on a definitive solution for fresh waste management.MSID:: 130190818 413 |
