Thaindian News

Chandigarh, June 15 (IANS) The Punjab government will implement a comprehensive waste management project by March 2011 in a bid to make its cities clean, officials said Tuesday.
Under the plan, the state will be divided into eight clusters and each will be developed into a viable solid waste management project to be operated in a public-private partnership mode.

The eight clusters are: Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Pathankot, Patiala and Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).

“We have worked out a project under which garbage will be collected from every urban house, segregated, processed at a central place, turned into fuel for power generation or compost for agricultural use and thereafter residue will be disposed off scientifically,” Punjab local bodies and industry minister Manoranjan Kalia said.

All formalities and paper work in this regard has been completed and bidding for three clusters of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur has already been initiated, according to officials.

So far the local bodies department has received nearly 40 expressions of interest (EOIs) from domestic as well as foreign companies.

“We are taking this project as top priority and expect that it will be operational in all eight clusters by the end of March 2011,” Kalia added.

Urban areas of Punjab generate 4,200 tonnes of solid wastes a day. Once the scheme is implemented, the wastes would be utilized for producing power, compost or other useful products.