Journalism of Courage
THE PUNE Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to appoint IIT-Roorkee to conduct a techno-commercial analysis at their new waste-to-energy plant in Ramtekdi, Hadapsar. The plant was shifted to a new location mid-construction from Uruli Devachi and Phursungi following several protests by the villagers.
The plant would process waste of 750 ton per day to generate energy. Murlidhar Mohol, chairperson of standing committee, said, “The civic standing committee has approved the proposal of appointing IIT-Rorkee to carry out necessary techno-commercial analysis of the proposed plant at a cost of Rs 8.26 lakh, including the Goods and Service Tax (GST).”
The PMC had appointed Pune Bio-Energy Systems Private Limited to commission the waste-to-energy plant at the garbage dumping site in Uruli Devachi and Phursungi villages. However, agitation by villagers compelled the civic body to shift it to Ramtekdi in Hadapsar.
Thus, the agency appointed for commissioning the plant has sought clearance of the expenditure incurred till date at the existing site and additional expenditure for creation of the capital assets at the new location.
Suresh Jagtap, incharge of Soild Waste Management of PMC, said, “The plant at the new location would be based on control combustion and biogas technology which would include the installation of boiler, flew gas system and ash handling facility at the plant as per the Solid Waste Management (Handling and Management) Rules 2016. The PMC does not have technical manpower for analysis of the proposed plant so a third party technical committee is needed to be appointed for the purpose and IIT Rorkee has shown interest in doing the techno-commercial analysis of plant for the civic body.”
“The PMC had received the permission of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for setting up the plant at Uruli Devachi and Phursungi village but the villagers have been agitating against it. Thus, the Ramtekdi site was identified and the civic body got the formal approval for it in April,” he added.
Around 1,600 to 1,700 tonne of waste is generated every day in the city, which includes 300 tonne wet garbage and 50 tonne mixed. Waste generation increases by 200 to 300 tonne per day during festive seasons. The PMC has set up two vermi-cum-mechanical composting plants, 25 biogas plants, one bio-CNG plant, 14 wet waste plant and three mechanical composting plants in various parts of the city.
