GHAZIABAD: Waste disposal in the city has taken a hit since Geron Engineering, the private firm facing an FIR over its trucks bringing municipal waste from Delhi into Ghaziabad, was asked to cease work till the investigation against it is complete.
Garbage has piled up on the nearly 30-acre waste processing site at Morta, earlier managed by Geron Engineering. Officials said sanitation workers may have to suspend door-to-door garbage collection since the Morta site has no more space.
The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) is currently scouting for a new land parcel to dump the 1,400 MT solid municipal waste that the city generates daily. The corporation, officials said, will also float a fresh tender on July 12 to invite a new company to process the waste.
“Frantic search for private land is on so sanitation workers can dump the city’s waste there, but there has been no success. Since an investigation over the alleged dumping of Delhi’s civic waste is underway against Geron Engineering, it has been asked not to work,” said an official. “The GMC on July 12 will invite fresh tender from firms, but we are wary about managing the waste till then, especially as inspections for Swachh Survekshan 2023 is underway,” added the official.
 

At the centre of the crisis is Mayor Sunita Dayal, whom opposition councillors have blamed for creating such a situation. One of them said on the condition of anonymity, “The mayor has little experience in managing the municipality, and at least two councillors from her party who have vested interests are misleading her. So, now, we are seeing garbage piles in different parts of the city.”
“Geron Engineering qualified after a bidding process. Why did the mayor act hastily against the firm when it clarified that it was ferrying RDF? The mayor should have waited for the investigation before lodging an FIR against the firm. She also should have thought over a contingency plan,” added the councillor.

Mayor Sunita Dayal, however, refuted allegations that councillors from her party are misguiding her. “I have been in active politics for many years, and that I am being misguided is laughable. As far as acting against the firm is concerned, it was for everyone to see what it was doing.”
When asked about the condition of the city, currently littered with waste, due to her knee-jerk reaction to the situation, Dayal said, “It is for Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation officials to answer, but I have done anything wrong at all, I will seek apology from the public who elected me."