10 Jan 2023
It was in 2016 that Ludhiana was selected by the Government of India to be developed as a “Smart City”, the first from Punjab, even before UT Chandigarh.
Not a single project sanctioned under the Smart City Mission, especially to improve solid waste management (SWM), has been completed yet even as Ludhiana produces 1,000-1,100 tonnes of waste every day. If anything, following ouster of the A2Z Group, a Gurgaon-based waste management firm, last year after a tussle with the municipal corporation, 21 lakh tonne waste has piled up.
With the A2Z Group leaving the work midway, the civic body now has a herculean task at hand— processing of 21 lakh tone of waste accumulated at Jamalpur landfill. Isha Kalia, CEO, Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC), the nodal agency for implementation of Smart City Mission projects in the state, said, “The bioremediation of 5 lakh MT legacy waste in Ludhiana is proposed to be done under the Smart City pilot project. The remaining would be done under the Swachh Bharat Mission.”
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