Chandigarh: Work to clear 3rd trash mountain at Dadumajra landfill begins
When the bio-remediation of the second mountain was being done, the third mountain of waste emerged at Dadumajra landfill as a result of the unabated dumping of unsegregated and unprocessed daily waste
After missing repeated deadlines, Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) has finally completed the bio-remediation of two garbage mountains (legacy waste) dumped at Dadumajra landfill, the civic body officials said on Thursday, adding that the work has already been started to process the remaining freshly dumped waste or the third mountain, holding a massive 1.25 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of waste, at the landfill.
The waste management journey of Chandigarh has been chequered and two legacy waste mountains of 5 LMT and 8 LMT have come up in the past decades as a result of inadequate waste processing facilities. The entire 5 LMT waste was processed by December 2022. However, when the bio-remediation of the second mountain was being done, the third mountain of waste emerged at the landfill as a result of the unabated dumping of unsegregated and unprocessed daily waste.
The MC had earlier set the deadline for completing the bio-remediation of 8 LMT mountain by July 2023, then to December 2023, which was then extended to March 2024, June, October and then finally to December 2024. Even the Union ministry of environment, forest, and climate change, had on December 16, 2024, said in the Parliament session, that the work of bio-remediation of entire legacy waste, which is dumped at Dadumajra landfill, is scheduled for completion by December 2024.
“In December, out of 8 LMT of legacy waste, 7.80 LMT was processed. The work was left over to bio-mine about 20,000 MT, and it has now been completed. Also, we are now processing complete fresh waste daily and no fresh garbage is being dumped at the site,” said MC commissioner Amit Kumar, adding that the bio-remediation of the third mountain has started and will be completed by May 2025.
It is pertinent to mention that MC has already approved an integrated solid waste management plant to be set up at Dadumajra. Aimed at effectively tackling the city’s daily waste generation of 550 MT, the new plant, with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, is proposed to comprise three facilities – one each for dry, wet and horticulture waste. Spread over 20 acres, it will be set up on a part of the Dadumajra landfill after clearing the area and as per current proposal, the project will be allotted for a total of 27 years, including two years for construction, and 25 years for operation and maintenance.
Tewari takes up matter in Parliament
In response to a question asked by Congress MP Manish Tewari in Parliament, the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs said no separate allocation of funds has been made for the remediation of legacy waste dumpsites.
However, funds were released for the remediation of legacy waste dumpsites under the solid waste management (SWM) component of Swachh Bharat Mission-U.
It has been stated that under SBM-U 2.0, an amount of ₹28.50 crores as the central share has been approved for remediation of legacy waste dumpsite for the UT.
“As per information provided by the UT, the bio-remediation of remaining legacy waste has already started and the entire waste will be cleared by July 31, 2025 subject to weather conditions,” the response from the Union ministry read.
Tewari had questioned about the total budgetary expenditure incurred to clear the garbage dump in Dadumajra since April 1, 2019 month-wise. He also asked about the total budgetary expenditure for the maintenance of the garbage dump, including the cost of air fresheners, perfumes, and odor-suppressing measures since April 1, 2019, month-wise, the total quantity of legacy waste still lying at the garbage dump in Sector 38 West, Chandigarh, as of January 2025 and the quantity of concurrent waste being dumped daily at the site along with the monthly volume of concurrent waste currently being managed at the site. Tewari further asked whether the Centre has a plan to fully clear the garbage dump, if so, the time by which the garbage mountain is expected to cease to exist and if not, the reasons therefore; and the steps taken/being taken by the government to ensure scientific waste management and to prevent the recurrence of such garbage dumps in the future.