Amritsar has new plans for solid waste

With the implementation of this project, Amritsar will be the first district in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir to have such a system for solid waste management.

About a month ago, the Municipal Corporation signed the agreement with Mumbai-based Antony Solid Waste Management Company. The project is likely to begin from the first week of December. The project was announced by Sidhu last year, and was expected to be implemented from January 2008. Sources say it got delayed due to the nonchalance of the authorities concerned.

A team led by Sidhu had also visited Hyderabad in connection with the project. Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said that with this project, the process of solid waste collection and management would be mechanized. “The company will operate on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) system,” he said.

The system, he revealed, will include door-to-door collection of garbage through special bins and mechanized carriages. The processing and disposal of solid waste would be covered in another phase.

Kharbanda said that there is a proposal to manufacture electricity, manure, fuel and construction material from the waste.

He asserted that the company will invest in the project, and MC will not spend anything on it. The fuel that is generated will be used to generate power for the city. “This will help the city become self-reliant in power generation to an extent,” he said.

Kharbanda said no worker of the Municipal Corporation will be ousted because of the project. When contacted, Mayor Shawet Malik said the system will help in keeping the city clean and green.

The disposal of solid waste management is now emerging as a major issue all over the country. With rising population, large tracts of land are being used as garbage dumps for solid waste.