Mounting garbage, including construction debris, on city streets and the riverbed and the state government’s delay in providing land for waste management has prompted the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to clean up its own mess. Now, a two-acre plot of barren land at Wagholi has been identified by the civic body to set up a debris processing plant, which will be the second such establishment in the country after Delhi.
Elaborating on the PMC’s plan of action on Wednesday, municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar said, “The district administration has allotted land to set up a debris processing plant, work for which will begin soon. At present, there is only one such plant located in Delhi. Right now, there is no system in place to sort out the debris problem and people are dumping it on the riverside or in open areas. We have already made a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and will float a tender in January.“
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is piling up by the day with burgeoning real estate projects across the city and its outskirts. According to the study, the construction industry in India generates about 10-12 million tonnes of C&D waste annually, whereas Pune city alone is responsible for almost 125 tonnes of daily C&D debris. The PMC has placed a ban on dumping debris at open spaces, the riverbed, nulluhs and quarries, charging a fine of Rs 25,000 for violations. To escape action, people dump their debris into the river at night.Besides that, the civic body carries out dem olition drives on unauthorised constructions within the city limits as well. The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have also undertaken development work within the city, producing almost 1500 tonnes of debris within the corporation limits.
Rohot Gera, vice-president of The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) said, “We welcome the PMC’s move to set up a debris processing plant. It is a major issue in the real estate sector. We try to recycle the maximum amount of debris, but that’s not possible all the time. So, we ask contractors to dispose of the waste. But, there is no specific area of disposal. Sometimes, he places the debris in a prohibited area and is fined.When this happens, the builder is always hauled up and every one puts the blame on him. No builder tells a contractor to dump debris in a particular area. It is completely the contractor’s responsibility where to dump it. This initiative will provide a designated place for disposal.“
As of now, most of crusher activities have begun for the plant at Wagholi. After floating the tender, PMC has set a time limit of six months for the plant’s installation.This plant will recycle construction material, which can be used for brick production. It will segregate cement, bricks, tar and other material and reprocess it through modern machinery. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) is a pioneer for such a plant set up to process construction and demolition waste.
The DMC had set up a recycling plant of C&D waste in 2010, during the Commonwealth Games. The IL&FS Environment Infrastructure Services Limited (IEISL) set up a 500 TPD capacity processing plant in Delhi on the public private partnership model, to manage C&D waste and collected and transported approximately 2, 00,000 tonnes of C&D waste from the streets of Delhi during the games.
Source : Pune Mirror
