GUWAHATI, Jan 25 - The Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGCL) is planning to set up a waste-to-energy plant near the proposed integrated solid waste management facility (ISWMF) of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) on the campus of the old Chandrapur Thermal Power Plant. This plan of the APGCL is the product of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) signed by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) with the APGCL on the issue of taking over the old Chandrapur Thermal Power Plant campus for the purpose of setting up of a unit of the ISWMF of the Guwahati Capital Region.
Disclosing this, the State Government also said in its latest affidavit before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Original Application Number 472/2018, Rohit Choudhury versus the Union of India and others, on the issue of identification of the proposed ISWMF sites and protection of the elephant corridor by the northern alignment of the rail track outside Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary, that it has submitted a proposal to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for declaring the eco-sensitive zone of Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary.
The MoEFCC has sought additional details for processing the draft notification for the purpose and the State Government is making consultations with the stakeholders for finalisation of the draft notification for its submission to the MoEFCC.
It needs mention here that the State Government has identified four sites for setting up ISWMF in the city and a 40-bigha plot of land located on the old Chandrapur Thermal Power Station of the APGCL forms one of them. The GMC signed the MoA with the APGCL on September 21, 2019 for the purpose of using this plot of land with the APGCL conveying its no objection with regard to the setting up of the SWMF on its land. The MoA also provides that GMC shall make all necessary arrangements for scientific handling, storage and segregation of the waste as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
As per the MoA, the GMC shall store the waste in a scientific manner to prevent contamination and after segregation of the waste, the same shall be made available to the APGCL for the latter�s proposed waste-to-energy plant. Meanwhile, as per Clause-8 of the MoA, a project facilitation committee (PFC), comprising the representatives of the GMC, APGCL and the Government of Assam has been constituted.
