BENGALURU: As many as 10 wet waste disposal plants which were shut in the city during the first week of January due to a standoff between BBMP and a private firm are still shut, though efforts are on to resolve the issue.
Express had reported on January 11 that the private firm Ashoka Biogreen had shut down all 10 of its plants citing arrears amounting to over Rs 20 crore by the BBMP. Joint Commissioner, Health and Solid Waste Management, Sarfaraz Khan had countered that the firm had inflated the bill. Each plant has a capacity to treat 5 tons of wet waste and while they’re shut, effectively 50 tons of wet waste is being sent to larger plants to be treated.
In the recent meeting on March 15, a five-member committee appointed by the BBMP met with both the director and the manager of Ashoka Biogreen. Manager Rahul Awhade said, “We presented all our issues along with documents to the committee. There was no intimation from them regarding anything.”
The firm has claimed total arrears of Rs 20.83 crore, out of which the interest amounts are about Rs 5.50 crore and idle charges are Rs 2.67 crore. Awhade says they took over the plants, the firm was promised land for the plants within a week by the BBMP. However, delays due to various land acquisition issues resulted in the land being given to them after eight months, and it is for these eight months for which the firm is claiming idle charges.
Bettegowda, chairman of the BBMP committee formed to look into the matter, said the committee had decided to pay a part of the amount, the exact details of which they were still working out.