Surat industrialist wants to lift solid waste from Khajod free as SMC gets CRZ approval to move site to Umber village

Surat (Gujarat): Following the Surat Municipal Corporation’s (SMC) long-awaited approval from the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) to relocate its Khajod solid waste disposal site to Umber village near Sachin GIDC, the path appears clear for a reputable Surat industrialist to free-of-charge lift waste from the disposal site and sell it to a leading public sector unit (PSU) for its biogas project.

This industrialist, whose company was shut down by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) for discharging highly toxic hazardous water in the canal following a villagers’ protest, has offered to free-of-charge transport the solid waste to the SMC from its Khajod disposal site.

Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agarwal recently ordered an increase in daily waste removal capacity from 4,200 metric tonnes to 6,000 metric tonnes to clear the bio-mining site at Khajod in a year.

SMC has set a goal of removing approximately 15 lakh metric tonnes of waste from the Khajod disposal site, which is located just a short distance from the world’s largest Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB), an international diamond exchange that is part of the Gujarat Government’s Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City project.

The Khajod disposal site covers an area of 8 acres. The civic body stopped dumping solid waste because of the State Government’s pet project DREAM city and the SDA in Khajod. The civic body, on the other hand, has ordered the contractors to clear the waste from the bio-mining site within a year.

The SMC issued a notice in 2013 allowing Nagarpalikas in south Gujarat to dump their waste and garbage in Khajod village. For the past 18 years, the SMC had been dumping its solid waste at Khajod without segregation. People in 35 villages near the facility had demanded that it be closed due to pollution concerns.

MSH Sheikh, an environmental expert who campaigned against the dumping site’s location, and Parivartan Trust, a nonprofit organisation in the state, went to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Residents of nearby villages expressed concern that the garbage dump’s foul odor would cause health problems. The pollution caused by the site’s repeated fires resulted in heavy air pollution within a 10-kilometer radius, causing health problems in the villages of Khajod, Budiya, Gabeni, Dipli, Jiyav, and Bhimrad.

The NGT directed the SMC authorities in May 2017 to close the Khajod open dumping site within 18 months and to begin closure work within a month.

“There is no issue if the municipal corporation dumps the solid waste at Umber village under the purview of the CRZ law,” MHS Shaikh, an environmental activist, told The Blunt Times.

The industrialist appears to have mobilised all of his resources to ensure that he gets the entire disposal site to sell to the PSU that wants to increase its biogas production.

It remains to be seen whether the municipal corporation grants the industrialist permission to lift the solid waste for free, or whether the authorities set a cost for using it for the city’s overall development.