City waste plant on track: Assam govt to NGT

Assam has completed the technical evaluation of bids for installation of solid waste processing plant in Guwahati and is examining its viability. This was informed by the state government through an affidavit before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently. Following an NGT order passed in 2019, the Kamrup (Metro) district administration shifted the dumping ground from West Boragaon area to Chandrapur last year. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) started dumping waste at the 40-acre area of Thermal Power Complex at Chandrapur in June last year. However, the civic body and the district administration faced strong public resistance there and bowing to it, the GMC stopped dumping waste there.

Since July last year, the GMC has been dumping garbage of the entire city at an area of 70 bighas at Belor Tol at East Boragaon in the city.

The state government also submitted in the affidavit that the dumping site at West Boragaon is totally closed and GMC has started bio-remediation of the legacy waste accumulated at the closed site.
Approximately 15 lakh metric tonnes (MTs) of waste have accumulated at the closed dump site. A total of Rs 10 crore has been approved for bio-remediation of 3.61 lakh MTs of waste out of the total. The government said a total 1.71 lakh MTs of solid waste has been bio-mined.