General Rodrigues inaugurates solid waste processing plant

Chandigarh: Adding another milestone to the upgradation of the environment in City Beautiful, the Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Gen. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues, PVSM VSM, today inaugurated the Municipal Solid Waste Processing Plant at Dadu Majra. Set up at a cost of Rs. 30.00 crores on 10 acres, the plant is one of its kind in northern India. It may be recalled that the foundation stone of this environment friendly project installed jointly by the Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Administration with Jai Parkash Associates on BOOT basis, was laid by General Rodrigues himself on February 21, 2006 and completed in the stipulated time frame.

Giving an inspiring message to ‘Put Chandigarh First,’ on the occasion, General Rodrigues said that the City has developed an unique model of social & structural transformation and there is a need of further strengthening public-private partnerships, to further upgrade civic amenities and improve the quality of life. He said that Chandigarh has witnessed rapid growth and development with the implementation of various projects, which has contributed to improving the delivery systems. He emphasized that while pursuing development strategies, we are going strictly by the laid down rules, and official procedures and there has been no deviation at any time in the completion of projects and implementation of government schemes. He said that every thing is done in a totally transparent, accountable and responsive manner leaving no opportunity for any personal benefit or favour to any individual. He reaffirmed his commitment of ensuring an honest approach in every developmental activity and said that anything wrong in the Administration, must be brought to his notice, for taking corrective measures. He appealed to the elected representatives and the people to make a positive contribution as stakeholders for accelerating the pace of development and making the City more clean and green.

Tracing the history of this project, General Rodrigues said that though this project was conceived in 1996 for one reason or another till 2004 work was not started and asked the Municipal Commissioner to go into the reasons for the delay.

Along with Garbage Processing Plant another facility for closing and capping the sanitary land fill, has been added at a cost of Rs. 955 lakhs. He asked the Municipal Corporation to plan and create necessary support structures for different sports disciplines. He asked the executive agencies of this project to evolve an effective mechanism for constant validation of the project with follow up corrective measures.

General Rodrigues further said that the Chandigarh Administration has undertaken an ambitious programme of upgrading the sanitation of villages by June, this year, to achieve full sanitation coverage by installing sufficient number of toilets and taking other measures. He asked the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation to coordinate the work with other agencies. He also asked the Jai Parkash Group Associates to set up a medical facility at the campus site to look after the healthcare of workers in the plant.

Mr. Pradip Mehra, Adviser to Administrator, while speaking on the occasion said that this project will help in removal of Garbage and promote sanitation standard in the City. He suggested that since Chandigarh has the maximum tree cover, there is a scope of utilizing this facility for processing leaves of plants and trees to create energy pallets.

Mr. Roshan Sankaria, Commissioner Municipal Corporation, in his welcome address said with the inauguration of this plant and development of a sanitary landfill at the existing dumping ground, the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh will have the distinction of being the first Municipal Corporation in the Country for setting up of garbage processing/disposal facilities for the entire garbage generated in the city as per Municipal Solid Waste (management and handling) Rules 2000 in toto. He assured that there will be minimal pollution and preservation of complete environmental ambiance and ecology will be ensured.

Mr. Rajiv Gaur, President, Jai Parkash Associates while speaking on the occasion said that the plant is eco-friendly conforming to the norms laid down by Pollution Control Committee of Chandigarh Administration, and has been fenced, with green cover of trees planted around it to create the green buffer zone. The plant is fully covered to minimize exposure to atmosphere, and arrangements to spray culture on the garbage to eliminate insects, flies and odour have also been made. He said that this project will give much needed relief to the residents of Chandigarh and the localities near Dadu Majra waste dump site in particular, which suffered from methane emission due to anaerobic decomposition of solid waste in uncontrolled open landfill site, which had so far been the only practice of disposal of garbage. Apart from Municipal Councillors, the senior officers who attended the function included Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Finance Secretary and Mr. R.K. Rao, Deputy Commissioner.

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