The Ramky Company is planning to set up a waste to energy plant for the disposal of the refuse derived fuel (RDF) generated in the Sheeshambada solid waste management and recycling plant.

In this waste management plant, about 100 metric tonnes of RDF is generated daily but only half of it gets disposed of by the management.

As informed by the project head of the plant, MA Saify, there are no waste to energy plants in Uttarakhand which makes the immediate disposal of the RDF difficult.

Most of the RDF is being sent to the companies of Delhi, as stated by Saify, but still, a considerable amount of it remains in the plant. In the past few months, several allegations were levelled regarding the operation of the plant.

The locals had alleged that the accumulation of the generated leachate had gathered outside the plant and was contaminating the groundwater table.

Besides this, they also said that the wet and dry garbage is not processed separately in the plant that causes a nasty smell to spread across the area around the plant.

However, Saify denied all these allegations stating that the sanitation workers collect dry and wet garbage separately with the help of about 160 vehicles from the 69 wards.

He further added that about 350 employees work to collect garbage in these wards and the staff of nearly 80 people works in the waste management plant that operates it quite systematically. The leachate treatment plant (LTP) is also quite functional in the plant to treat the generated leachate so all the allegations regarding this are not true, said Saify.

Talking about the accusation of the nasty smell spread across the area, he said that the enzymes are sprayed five times a day in the plant so there is no way that any kind of foul smell causes a nuisance to the nearby people.

He also informed that besides the company, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has also deployed an employee just to spray enzymes to sterilise the plant which also assists in the removal of pungent smell from the air.

Moreover, Saify stated that the Ramky Company is working toward setting up a waste to energy plant in Dehradun to tackle the issue of the improper disposal of RDF and for this, they have already sent a proposal to the State Urban Development department. If the proposal gets the green signal, the work on waste to energy plant can be finished in about two years, added Saify.

Besides this, the company is also going to commence the work on a new garbage transfer station in Indiranagar area. Saify said, "We are planning to set up three more garbage transfer stations here to improve the procedure of garbage collection and garbage transfer process to the waste management plant.

For now, two garbage stations are currently functional in the city and the work on the third one will commence in a few days. The other two will be planned after we get the land for it,” he informed.