Work on the pending construction of the waste processing unit of the ambitious Solid Waste Management project under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is likely to be initiated in coming months as the third installment of the budget has been approved by the Government of India.
Senior City Health Officer at Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD), Dr RK Singh, said that the third installment of about Rs 6 crore has been sanctioned by the Central Government. This would help in expediting the pending work on the processing unit at Selaqui.
Singh informed that the work of the processing unit has been stalled for two years due to inadequate budget. Hopefully, the work would be started now and probably completed in 8-12 months. He said that about Rs 9 crore is yet to be released by the Government of India. The amount released in the first installment was utilised in purchasing necessary equipment and vehicles.
However, environment officer in the Project Implemented Unit (PIU) of JNNURM, Dr Pankaj Bhatt said that currently the project is under loss of around Rs 2.5 crore. He said that earlier the Central Government has asked for reforms in the project, but as the State failed to facilitate this, Rs 2.5 crore was withheld by the GoI. In the first installment, around Rs 9.84 crore was sanctioned by the Central Government, while Rs 6.15 crore was sanctioned in the second installment and Rs 2.5 crore was deducted from the first installment.
He said that the third installment is yet to be released. He added that the processing unit work would only be initiated once the State Government releases the amount.
The health department of MCD might also be able to initiate the work of segregating solid waste soon, informed Dr Singh.The segregation of waste would be started and two different coloured dustbins would be placed in all the wards. Green coloured dustbin would be meant specifically for biodegradable waste and black coloured dustbin would be kept for non-biodegradable waste.
Singh said that soon people in every ward would also be given necessary instructions on how to segregate the waste material in two different categories including wet and dry waste. He further said that 50 per cent of this waste would be dumped in compost pit, 25 per cent would be recycled and the remaining 25 per cent would be left as inert.
The Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project under the Urban Infrastructure and Governance sub-mission JNNURM was approved with a budget of Rs 24.60 crore in which 80 per cent is to be given by central government and 20 per cent by the State Government to facilitate segregation of waste, storage of waste at source, primary collection, street sweeping, secondary storage, transportation, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste.