Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 19

After the National Green Tribunal (NGT) instructed JITF Company to operate the solid waste management plant at its full capacity and submit a report in this regard on September 6, the company has started video recording of the plant.

Officials of JITF Company and the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, are working to implement the instructions issued by the NGT during the last hearing on August 4. The next hearing is on September 6.

MC Commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal has also instructed all executive officers (EOs) of municipal councils to pay the outstanding amount as tipping fee to the company before September 6.

Recently, the MC Commissioner also held a meeting with the EOs of 18 municipal councils in the cluster and officials of the accounts branch. At the meeting, the Commissioner also instructed the officials that in future, the payment of the tipping fee should be made to the company on time.

It has been decided to clear all outstanding tipping fee by Monday and submit a report to him so that, the MC Commissioner will forward the report to the Secretary of the Local Bodies Department.

During the meeting, the EOs said their economic condition was not good and the government had stopped releasing funds, due to which they were unable to pay the huge amount. The MC Commissioner told them to submit a report to him, stating how much they can pay and what amount they are unable to pay. He said on the basis of the report, he could take up the matter with the state government to get funds released.

A few days ago, a three-member team constituted by the NGT to check the plant and submits its report on it inspected the solid waste management plant. The team included PPCB member secretary Babu Ram, Joint Director of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Chandigarh, Bimal Hatwal and Dr Fivi Johal from the Department of Civil Engineering, PETA, Chandigarh.

It inspected the foul smell coming out of the plant and monitored the plant closely for around two hours. It also checked the green belt around the plant, CCTV cameras and technique of disposing of garbage.

During the last hearing on August 4, the government told the NGT that it was ready to resolve every issue of the company while officials of the company said the firm had to bear losses to the tune of crore of rupees for operating the plant.

The company officials said due to a number of protests by local residents, the government stopped them from operating the plant.

For the past several years, the Bathinda cluster has an outstanding payment of Rs 2 crore worth of tipping fees, which has not been paid till date.

After hearing the government and company’s versions, the NGT has strictly instructed both to operate the plant in every situation and submit a report in the next hearing on September 6.