The screening of a documentary on Swachh Bharat by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) at the launch of “Gurugram Handbook for Waste Management” by Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh recently courted controversy.
Successful projects
The civic body showcased a dysfunctional composting plant at Nirvana Country township here as a success story despite several other successful waste management projects in the city.
According to a plant worker, the composter at Nirvana Country developed a snag soon after it was installed last August and remained out of order for over two months. He added that it stopped working once again over two months ago.
Foul smell
The worker said the curing baskets were shifted to the RWA ground for manual composting after residents complained of noises and foul smell. Though the 1,000 households in the township generate about 500 kg of waste, a little over 200 kg is available for composting.
The documentary was shot just two days before the programme on March 17. The volunteer featured in the film can be seen explaining the procedure for composting while standing next to the out of order composter and adds that “the MCG officials visited the plant regularly and were very supportive of the project”.
Questioning the rationale behind promoting an out of order composter, Saurbah Bardhan of NGO Green Bandhu said composting at Nirvana Country was being done in an unscientific manner and that the team lacked experience.
Ground water issue
“They’ve put composting pits in the open, leading to foul smell, when it should be in an enclosure. After the machine developed a snag, they dug pits for manual composting without putting a liner. It would lead to leachate and contamination of ground water.”
Mr. Bardhan said when several RWAs including the one at Regency Park-II at DLF Phase IV were running successful waste management plants in a scientific manner, the MCG should have chosen a successful model to showcase before the Minister. Though the MCG has spent over ₹13 lakh to set up its own waste management plant at Sector 15 Part-II and incurs a running cost of several thousand rupees per month, it failed to mention its own project during the programme.
‘Not aware’
MCG Additional Commissioner Amit Khatri said he wasn’t aware that the Nirvana composting plant wasn’t working.
Nirvana Country RWA president Sanu Kapila added that though the machine wasn’t functional, composting was being done manually and the waste wasn’t being thrown untreated.
