Plan to turn floral waste into incense sticks stalled

Ludhiana: The festive season has ended, and the marriage season is also about to conclude, but the civic body officials have failed to take any step to process floral and coconut waste.
Earlier, the civic body had planned to set up a small plant at the dump site in Jamalpur for the purpose, but the plan did not materialise. For this purpose, at the dump site, civic body officials were supposed to provide a shed and collection was to be done with the help of MC, whereas a contractor was supposed to install necessary machinery to convert the waste into incense sticks. Not only floral waste, coconut waste is also a major issue for officials, and they had plans to get one machine to process coconut waste into rope. However, the body has not been able to find space for setting up the shed. The officials were claiming to collect details about total waste being generated from the temples, especially during festival and marriage season, and to tieup with temple managements and marriage palace owners for collection of this waste, but nothing has been done so far. While asked about the status of the project, a senior official said, "Due to certain reasons, we could not establish the required shed for setting up machinery for processing the waste. That is why it got delayed. However, we will try to set it up in the coming days.”
Notably, at the dump site, floral as well as coconut waste reaches in large quantity, which increases during the festival season, but the authorities have failed to find any solution to the problem. The flower waste goes along with other waste material, whereas it can be processed.
Sources revealed that officials did not take this work seriously, due to which the contractor who was supposed to provide the machinery is also now fed up with the delay. “Last year also, the officials kept delaying the work. If they do not act, the grant will be returned to the central government,” said another source.
In the past, the MC had contacted temple managements to find a solution to floral waste several times, but as there was no mechanism to deal with it, no step was taken. However, officials claimed they will fulfill this task at any cost, otherwise the grant will lapse. In the city, many residents are already collecting floral waste so as to convert it into manure. A senior citizen, Rajinder Singh Kalra, from Bank Colony Jamalpur has been doing this for the past so many years. He himself collects floral waste from temples and gurudwara and then converts it into manure.