Amidst reports of the State Urban Development department drafting a proposed action plan for solid waste management in urban local bodies of the State, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli has said that the State should first ensure completion of pending works related to waste management before starting on new plans.
This comes at a time when the recently published report of a nationwide survey conducted by the Union ministry of Urban Development as part of the Swachchh Bharat campaign placed Dehradun 360th among 476 cities surveyed for level of civic sanitation and other civic facilities.
It is pertinent to mention here that though last month the State Government had approved in principle the solid waste treatment plant of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun to be constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the final approval for the same is yet to be accorded by the State.
Talking to The Pioneer, the Dehradun Mayor said, “I would say that instead of starting on new plans, the State should first clear pending works related to civic sanitation. We are still awaiting the final approval of the State for the SWM plant at Shishambada. However, while we await the final approval from the State, we are going ahead with the tender process for this work through the directorate. If the State gives its final approval without further delay, it would help speed up the work,” he added.
It will be recalled that the JNNURM funded SWM project was launched in Dehradun in 2008 with work in its first stage starting in 2011. However, start of work in the second stage- which also included construction of the SWM treatment plant- got delayed due to lack of environmental clearance from the Centre. later, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had accorded its NOC for the plant but the State did not do the same.
Sources in the MCD state that factors like delay in the execution of the SWM project and resource shortage faced by the MCD are preventing facilitation of the desired level of civic sanitation in the State capital.