Aafrin Kidwai 
An art installation at Bhopal Lake
After much delay, the Adampur Chhawani dumpsite located on the outskirts of Bhopal will begin the scientific disposal of waste from tomorrow onwards.
The Adampur dumpsite was set up two years ago after the Bhanpur landfill was closed on the orders of the National Green Tribunal. As per some estimates, around 6 lakh tonne of waste has accumulated at the Adampur Chhawani plant during the last two years and it will take nine months to be cleared.
Speaking to solidwasteindia.com, Mr Rajesh Rathod, Additional Commissioner of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, said that Essel Infraprojects Limited was hired two years ago to set up a waste to energy plant at Adampur Chhawani. However, it failed to implement the project and hence another private agency has now been hired. Susajja Enterprises will remediate the waste which has accumulated over the last two years.
Mr Rathod explains, “We had hired Essel Infraprojects Ltd. two years ago to provide end-to-end garbage solutions including waste collection, segregation, transport, as well as infrastructure for converting waste to energy. There have been some internal issues at Essel due to which the project was delayed. A tender was recently released and Susajja Enterprises has been roped in to remediate the waste at Adampur plant.”
Around 1200 tonnes of waste will now be processed and biomethanized daily. Scientific landfilling will also be undertaken. The plant already has a composting unit that processes 400 tonnes of garbage daily. The Adampur plant has a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for recycled plastic which is sent to cement kilns and used for road and brick construction.
The Bhopal authorities are keen to have a 15MW waste to energy plant, similar to the Essel Infraproject’s plant in Jabalpur.
With Swacch Survekshan 2020 round the corner, the Bhopal civic body is optimistic about its chances. In the 2019 survey, Bhopal’s ranking had dropped to 19 from second place during the previous years. “We are hoping for the best since we have made progress on all indicators and are managing all types of waste including hazardous, C&D very well. We are one of the cleanest cities in India, for sure,” Mr Rathore concludes.
Picture Credit: Mujeebcpy, Noha installation in Bhopal lake , CC BY-SA 3.0
