From a cricket ground to a football ground to a leisure park, almost everything has been announced one after the other by political parties for the dumping ground at Dadumajra. Sadly, as residents continue to suffer in the choked air every second, the unfulfilled promises run deep every year. It is 2024 and residents of this area continue to wake up to see mountains of waste instead of the promised playing fields.
Chandigarh was once the second cleanest city in the country in 2016. While the authorities try to restore the lost “clean” image and the glory city enjoyed, the dearth of efforts to replicate good practices being followed by other cities like Indore is taking much time — even years — to restore the city. As the issue of sanitation continues to plague the City Beautiful, citizens hope that the new MP will take it up on priority.
Study tours for lakhs, hundreds of debates in the General House, protests and what not — nothing concrete yielded as the city continues to suffer.
A tranche of Rs 400 crore is being planned to be spent on the setting up of a new processing plant — to clear the daily trash Chandigarh houses produce — announced a few months before the city was to go to the Lok Sabha polls. This is apart from Rs 100 crore being spent to clear the legacy trash of the city that goes to Dadumajra.
Paveela Bali, a resident of Sector 18, Chandigarh, while speaking to The Indian Express said that the authorities need to educate citizens as well.
“We cannot see a visibly clean Chandigarh. It’s very simple. If there are places that are lying dirty or there are heaps of garbage lying here and there, that means first of all it’s the citizens who don’t know how to dispose of properly and I would blame it on the administration for not taking proper measures to educate and update people and even fine all those people who are creating such kind of a situation in the city. There is a lapse on the part of the cleaning agencies whether they are on a contract with the MC, they are not doing the jobs properly,” Bali said.
She added, “Tt pains to see the city littered. There was a time when we were cleaner and today you see plastic cups littered around.”
A school book on sanitation in curriculum
To be the first in the country, Chandigarh will be introducing a special book on sanitation in the school curriculum. Students in Chandigarh schools will study various chapters on understanding solid waste management, the underlying issues and the solutions in the sanitation issue.
The book “Swacchata Ki Pustak: Happy & Smart City” aims to educate school students and inspire them to become responsible citizens.
From 2 to 66 and then back to11 and 6: Rankings over years
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has been participating in the Swachh Survekshan cleanliness survey ever since its inception.
In 2016, it had secured the second rank among 73 cities. In the 2017 ranking, the city stood 11th among 434 cities, and in 2018, it ranked third among 4,203 cities surveyed across the country. In 2019, Chandigarh’s national ranking dropped to 20.
In 2020, Chandigarh ranked 16th, and in 2021, it saw a drastic drop to 66. The city performed better in 2022, where it bagged the 12th rank. In 2023, even as Chandigarh ranked 11th, one spot better, the fact that Delhi ranked better than Chandigarh hurt everyone.
Adverse impact: Fires in dumping ground and the water used
What the dump could do to the entire city can be gauged from the fact when a fire at the dumping ground breaks out. And it not just engulfs the entire city with smoke but also the water tanks run dry to douse those fires.
As many as 486 incidents of fire took place from year 2005 till July 2021.
Apart from the harmful impact caused by the fire- both environmentally and health-wise, data revealed that about 40 lakh litres of water (from 2016 to 2021) was consumed in dousing these flames.
In 2016, about 5 lakh litres of water were used while in 2017, 6.3 lakh litres were used. In 2018, about 2.5 lakh litres of water were used and in 2019, it was 1.25 lakh litres. In 2020, 8 lakh litres were used while in 2021, a huge quantity of 18.25 lakh litres of water this year were used.
The legacy trash: A Rs 100 crore project
Every election in the area is fought on clearing the dump but soon after the poll results, the promises evaporate.
In 2019, before the Lok Sabha election that year, it was announced that the administration will get rid of the dump at the Dadumajra dumping ground as the project of legacy mining will help clear 5 lakh metric tonnes of waste. During inauguration of the project, officials of the civic body had promised to clear the land soon and turn it into a recreational spot for residents.
However, after the fanfare died down and the Lok Sabha polls were over, it was announced that this Rs 34 crore is clearing only that trash which is just half of the entire dump. It was said that only that waste which was dumped in Dadumajra prior to 2008 will be cleared for this Rs 34 crore amount allotted to the project.
However, waste amounting to around 7.67 lakh metric tonnes dumped after 2008 was not included in the ‘mega project’– tender of which was awarded afresh and given in an additional Rs 68 crore amount. In the absence of a proper waste plant, residents worry that by the time previous one is cleared, a new mountain may come up.
Again before the Lok Sabha polls now , another key promise has been made which is getting a new agency to run the sole waste processing plant. And, it would involve Rs 400 crore funds to get a company that runs the plant — which JP was doing prior to 2020. It is said it will require two years of execution and would be given for 15 years.
Dyal Krishan, president of the Joint Action Committee, said that “dumping ground generates votes” for political parties.
“ Is there anything which a government can’t do? They feel if dumping ground will remain, it will generate votes. And all this is happening at the cost of residents,” he said.
Why is Chandigarh ignoring the Indore policy?
Asheesh Singh, an IAS officer, then MC Commissioner from Indore, got double the legacy waste of Chandigarh cleared at Devguradiya ground in Indore. The site is now a plantation where a city forest is slowly coming up.
The amount that was spent in the project was almost a tenth of what the Chandigarh civic body is currently spending. Chandigarh has taken the total expenses of bio-mining legacy waste to almost Rs 102 crore now – Rs 34 crore for initial 5 lakh metric tonnes and Rs 68 crore to clear the additional 7.67 lakh metric tonnes spread over 16 and 8 acres, respectively.
As there were firms asking too much money, the officer had said that they decided to take machinery on rent and deployed 15-20 times more machinery and resources. And they spent less than Rs 10 crore and cleared 13 lakh MT in just six months.
A total of 15 trommels, 15 horizontal screens, more than 50 excavators, backhoe loaders with 200 plus workers — that is what it took to clear the area of waste.
An approximate 15 per cent of the waste was sent to the secured landfill. The area of reclaimed land was 100 acres cost of which was around Rs 400 crore
While UT’s dumping ground is 45 acres, Indore’s was 100 acres. While Chandigarh generates 550 metric tonnes of waste on a daily basis, Indore produces around 1,200-1,400 metric tonnes of waste per day.
What the dump could do to the entire city can be gauged from the fact when a fire at the dumping ground breaks out. (Express archives) 
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