Row over solid waste management plant: SAD MLA slams party minister, civic officials

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In his address, Pargat Singh said leaders as well as officials have no idea about the ground reality and they will come to know about it only when they will visit along with the officials not by making reports while sitting in “air-conditioned” rooms in Jalandhar and Chandigarh as well.

The SAD-BJP government is keen on setting up the plant at Jamsher.

The plan is to treat garbage of around 27 municipal corporations and committees at the proposed plant. However, the public has raised objections over the current location of the solid waste management plant.

Pargat, who represents Jalandhar cantonment constituency where this plant is proposed to set up to manage the garbage by generating power from this waste, said that he had after going through every aspect of the previous report of this plant had found that local leaders as well as officials of Jalandhar MC have misled not only the government but the National Green tribunal (NGT) too by concealing various facts about the plant.

He said that as per the notification of the government of India such plants must be installed at a distance of 500 meters from the habitual area but the currently demarcated site is just between the Jamsher dairy complex where 16,000 cattle, 7,000 people are living just at the door step of this plant and also 850 qunital milk is supplied from here daily to Jalandhar city area.

He took on Jalandhar MC officials including former commissioner Binay Bublani during who’s tenure as commissioner in 2009 this plant was proposed here.

Taking a dig at Bublani, Pargat said he seemed to be most “Soojbaan” (far-sighted) officer who made this report without even visiting the place.

“When my minister (Local Bodies minister Anil Joshi) insisted on the setting up of this project, I told him clearly that I will not allow it at the current site at any cost. I know that I am going against my government but I cannot allow any wrong thing to happen to the people of my area,” said Pargat.