Years after work was initiated in it, the solid waste management project in Dehradun has continued to face hurdles at various levels which have prevented the authorities from achieving major progress in this much awaited facilitation. Successive State Governments headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, both failed to facilitate the desired level of progress in this project. The hurdle being posed by recently revived protests against location of the waste treatment plant and trenching ground at Shishambada led the chief minister Harish Rawat to order a stay on the said work. When Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli elicited focus on the progress report of this project being sought by the supreme court, the chief minister said that the location issue will be redressed soon. However, observers opine that with each passing day, the probability of completing this task on time becomes bleaker due to political and real estate lobbies purportedly pursuing ulterior motives and fuelling protests against the present location of the waste treatment plant and landfill.
The Dehradun municipal corporation is struggling to facilitate proper civic sanitation due to different factors. The municipal trenching ground along the Sahastradhara Road, which had reached its capcity some years ago, is not a convenient option for the corporation with residents in nearby locations strongly objecting to garbage dumping at this site. On the other hand, the other option -- facilitating the waste treatment plant and landfill at Shishambada too has remained inoperational at present. Official sources opine that while the mayor points out that the Shishambada site was chosen by the state administration, the chief minister has to give due consideration to the people objecting to location of the waste treatment plant and landfill, especially in view of the Vidhan Sabha election slated to be held in 2017.
It will be recalled that the procedure for execution of the solid waste management (SWM) project funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched in Dehradun in 2008 though the first stage of work execution was started in 2011. The start of work in the second stage—which also included construction of the SWM treatment plant and trenching ground at Shishambada-- got delayed due to lack of environmental clearance from the Centre. later, during 2014, a high level committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests gave the green signal for the waste treatment plant and landfill to be set up on about 20 acre land at Shishambada. However, execution of work was deferred initially as the state government took its time to accord its clearance for the project. Finally, after the necessary clearances were secured with the authorities preparing to commence work at the site, protests by locals under different ‘non-political’ banners once again thwarted swift work at the site. In the recent past, taking cognisance of those opposing the project location the chief minister had directed officials to halt work at Shishambada. Though the CM has assured the mayor that the location issue will be resolved soon, skeptics are of the opinion that work on the SWM project might continue facing hindrances preventing its completion by December 2016, as slated.
It is pertinent to mention here that three years after creation of Uttarakhand state in 2000, scope for work under JNNURM was made available to the state in 2003. However, little work was executed under the mission until 2008, when planning and other procedural aspects for the solid waste management project were initiated in the state under JNNURM. Skeptics point out that the SWM project, initiated in 2008 during Vinod Chamoli’s first term as Dehradun mayor remains hampered even at the fag end of Chamoli’s second term as Dehradun mayor. During the term of the BJP-led State Government from 2007 to 20012 and in the ongoing term of the Congress-led State Government, the SWM project has faced a series of impediments at the level of both the Central Government and the State Government. It now remains to be seen whether work will commence or remain deferred, especially due to political considerations.