Row over ‘garbage mountains’ in Delhi: Bagga slams Kejriwal over ‘mountains of trash’ in Ludhiana
In the video posted on Tuesday, Bagga said AAP supremo Kejriwal was raising concern over ‘garbage mountains’ and health issues in Delhi, but is he and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann not concerned about the health of Ludhiana residents?
Taking a dig at Delhi chief minister (CM) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal, national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga visited the main dump site (spread over 51 acres) of municipal corporation (MC) on Tajpur road and posted a video on twitter, slamming Kejriwal for the ‘mountain of trash’ in Ludhiana.
Recently, a row had erupted after Kejriwal visited Ghazipur landfill site and accused the BJP-led MC of failing to manage waste due to which mountains of garbage could be seen at the landfill site.
In the video posted on Tuesday, Bagga said AAP supremo was raising concern over ‘garbage mountains’ and health issues in Delhi, but is he and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann not concerned about the health of Ludhiana residents? Is Kejriwal waiting for municipal elections in Ludhiana to indulge in politics over the issue? he questioned.
The video was posted just before the Punjab local bodies minister Inderbir Nijjar was scheduled to kickstart bio-remediation of five lakh metric tonnes of waste at the main dump site.
In total, over 25 lakh metric tonnes of garbage have accumulated at the site over a few decades and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also imposed an interim compensation of ₹100-crore on the MC in August for failing to deal with legacy waste.
Bagga asked why no action had been taken to dispose of the waste accumulated at landfill site of Ludhiana. He said there are a number of landfill sites in Punjab and challenged Kejriwal to take a tour with him in different parts of the state where landfill sites are situated.
Local bodies minister Nijjar said he cannot comment on the situation in Delhi, but they have started the work to dispose of legacy waste in Ludhiana on Tuesday. Five lakh metric tonnes of waste will be disposed of in the first phase, while the tender process is underway to dispose of the remaining waste.
Meanwhile, posters/hoardings have been installed in different parts of the city thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP-led union government for sanctioning ₹30-crore for bio-remediation of five lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste in the first phase under the Smart City Mission. BJP leaders said the project was being taken up through funds issued under the Union government’s Smart City Mission.