The solid waste management plant in the city might soon turn into reality according to the officials of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC). The tender bids for the plant have been rejected four times due to lack of participation by the concerned companies. However, after the last cancellation of the tender bids, it has been decided to invite short notice tenders and go ahead with the development of the plant even if only one company bids.Apart from this, writ petitions filed against the development of the plant at Shishambara have been rejected by the Supreme Court.
The solid waste project was introduced in the state capital under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme of the central government with an aim to achieve scientific collection, disposal and processing of around 350 metric ton of waste produced in the city every day and the project was first approved in May 2008, followed by releasing of the first installment of funds in August 2008.The 24 crore project was to be executed in two broad phases in Dehradun comprising of door to door collection and the processing plant. Construction of the plant at Shishambara was stuck due to no clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) which was granted in 2014 which ensures that neither environment nor the people are impacted by the plant.
The first tender bid was invited on Dec 8, 2014, which was cancelled due to only 2 participants which is not according to the rules laid down by Supreme Court whereas in any bid requires minimum 3 bidders. The officials of DMC had written to the state govt for a change in rules by which two or more companies could bid together in a joint venture as per their specialization. Nitin Bhaduria, Commissioner, DMC told TOI, "We wanted more companies to participate to increase the competition and benefit us in terms of quality.
Finally after cancelling the tender bits few times we have got the permission for consortium which means 2 or more companies can bid together. We have also been allowed a second option according to which the tender can now be opened if there is a single bidder. We have circulated a fresh tender notice on March 29, the last date for which is April 8." Bhaduria further explained that these tenders were only for the processing plant. DMC officials claim this move is to expedite the development of JNNURM that will include composting, recycling, Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as well as sanitary land fill (SLF) since the deadline for completion of the project is within 2 years of getting approval from MoEF.Speaking about Supreme Court's decision Bhaduria said,"an aggrieved party kept filing writ petitions against the development of the plant since 2014 but kept facing dismissals.On Apr 1 the Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT) refused to accept the petition and dismissed it finally."
The tender for door to door collection will be opened at a later date once the processing plant executing firm is finalized. The privatization of collection and transport will include collection of waste, segregation at source, waste transfer as well collection of user charges.
