AHMEDABAD: In a volte-face, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has scrapped its plan to build a construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing plant in Gota, following mounting political pressures and concerns regarding dust pollution raised by upcoming residential societies.
Just four months after allotting 23,000 sq m of land in Gota’s TP Scheme 56 for the plant, the standing committee has laid a resolution in its January 4 agenda to relocate the plant.
The new proposed site, Gyaspur, is already home to one such facility. While the official reason cited by the AMC is “residential areas around the plot,” whispers of political pressure are also doing the rounds. To be set up on 5 acres of land in Gyaspur, the plant was designed to process 300 to 500 metric tonnes of C&D waste every day, from which items, including paver blocks, were to be manufactured and used.
The existing Gyaspur C&D plant, situated in the eastern part of the city, struggles to handle the ever-increasing construction and demolition debris generated by construction projects.
The Gota plant was proposed to ease this burden, especially of the western areas that generate considerable amount of waste.
Experts warn that transporting C&D waste across the city to Gyaspur plant will only exacerbate air pollution all along the transportation route, negating the benefits of waste processing. “The AMC had strategically decided to install a processing plant in Gota for the western areas,” said a senior AMC official.
