Waste compactor system installation picks up pace

Ludhiana: In its endeavour to prevent open dumping of garbage, the civic body will get machinery installed at the compactor site located near the second-hand scooter market on Wednesday.

Notably, heaps of garbage dot the site under the bus stand flyover near the second-hand scooter market and a few years back, the civic officials were told to shift the dump site elsewhere to reign in the rat menace which could prove dangerous for the flyover.

With this, the municipal corporation (MC) will finish installation of machinery and hook loaders at nine out of the 22 proposed compactor sites to compress solid waste collected from the city.

The work at a few other sites was under way, and they would also be made functional soon, said the officials. They said they were concerned about the 10 sites, where compactors were installed by either the LIT or Glada, and will commence enhancement work there soon. The infrastructure at the Dugri compactor site, the first compactor site in the city, will be enhanced first as the machinery there is outdated, and the flooring needs to be redone, they said.

Monitoring at nighttime

Now, a private contractor will be responsible for shifting of waste from the secondary garbage collection points and he will depute staff to monitor the work during nighttime as well. The officials claimed that recently batteries from the hook loaders parked at Cheema chowk were stolen even though CCTV cameras were installed there. The compactor installation in the city was initiated before the imposition of poll code. The machinery has been installed at various locations including Dhandhari, Manna Singh Nagar, and behind the civil hospital. Soon, waste from near old courts and Salem Tabri will be lifted as the compactors will be made functional. The officials said due to delay by the electricity department, load shifting could not take place and compactors couldn’t become operational.

Under the Smart City Mission, static compactors are being installed at 22 locations in the city at around Rs 33.50 crore (including civil and mechanical works). Currently, garbage collected from houses is being dumped in the open at secondary dumping sites. It is collected from there and shifted to the MC’s main dump site on Tajpur road.

MC superintending engineer Sanjay Kanwar said, “We are trying our level best to get all the machinery installed as soon as possible so that the city can be rid of the garbage menace.”