As Kalimpong grapples with an acute garbage problem, following a fire at the dumping grounds, it may be recalled here that a solid waste management plant set up by the Kalimpong Municipality in 2015 stopped functioning in 2017 during the agitation and prolonged shutdown in the Hills.

The plant that cost Rs 80 lakh and set up at Chota Bhalukhop in May 2015, has been designed, constructed, and implemented by ‘EClean Spectron Environment’.

The company had then claimed that the bio-gas plant was a first of its kind in the entire Northeast region. The plant was successfully installed during the time of Ganga Maya Gurung, the then Chairperson of the municipality.

Solid waste had to be segregated manually before being fed in the machine, but the only flaw of the locals was ‘their inability to segregate the dry and moist waste’, said municipality sources.

Labourers were hired to segregate the waste then. However, the agitation which paralyzed the hills in 2017, brought to an abrupt halt the operation of the machine. The solid waste disposal site for Kalimpong Municipality at Bhalukhop caught fire on April 12 and residents of Newar Gaon at Bhalukhop have barred the municipality from dumping waste there.

“We have to regenerate the plant now. We are ready to help. However, our role in 2015 was just to construct the plant,” said Subir Sen, the contract executor of the plant, over the phone.

The bio-gas plant has the capacity to handle 3 metric tons of organic waste daily, while the end products of the waste were biogas and organic manure. Biogas generated from the waste could be used as a fuel for cooking and also be converted into electricity by installing a generator at the site.

“The gas can be used in crematoriums by replacing the 400 kg of firewood used there,” said company sources.

However, four years ago, Kalimpong town generated more than 30 metric tons of waste. When asked about the present amount of waste generated by the public, Rabi Pradhan, the Chairman of the civic body, said that nobody has surveyed the same.

Mr Sen, later put forth a suggestion that the entire town should be cleaned as soon as possible, as the garbage strewn all over the town may cause grave health problems for the public. Mounds of garbage lie around at most places in Kalimpong at present, including at the District Hospital.

The municipality is also planning to install an incinerator. However, a good location for the same is yet to be found.

On the other hand, the company tasked with its installation is waiting for a green signal from the civic body, while they also have to be given the go-ahead by the civic body to restore the biogas plant.

Mr Pradhan said that the plant was shut down before his appointment as the chairman. Suva Pradhan was in the municipality chair when the plant was shut.

“Labourers tasked with segregating the waster were from far-flung tea gardens. Since the agitation took a different shape, the labourers left the town and that was the time when Suva Pradhan had gone down to see the plant. He called a meeting and decided to shut it. However, we may utilize the plant in the near future,” said Mr Pradhan.

Suva Pradhan, on the other hand, said that the plant was constructed before he was in the chair, and that he was the civic body chairman just for a fortnight.

“I have little idea about the biogas plant. The Health Inspector of the municipality later told me that a propeller inside the plant has decayed due to the acid generated by the gas. It may be noted that the plant was not creating enough gas and not turning in any profit. By the time we could think of an alternative, there was a shift in politics in the hills,” he said.

“He (present chairman) is in the chair for two years. Was there any resolution taken in the board about the plant? Or is there any order signed by me to close the project? He could have always re-started the project in these two years,” Suva Pradhan said, without naming Rabi Pradhan. Ganga Maya Gurung, meanwhile, said that the plant was successfully installed during her tenure.

“The plant produced methane and the gas had to be taken out in a balloon and not be sold which did not happen. Also, the company did not get a permission under the Explosive Act. It is believed that the person who was supposed to get the act registration is not in India now.

But the plant was functioning smoothly during my tenure,” she said. The company involved in the plant installation later confirmed that no such (explosive) license was required to run a plant and that only a pollution ‘NOC’ was required, which had been taken care of in 2015.