After nearly eight years of delays, the waste-to-energy plant in Ramtekdi is finally set to begin generating electricity by the end of June, according to confident claims from civic officials. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will accelerate work on the plant following questions raised by elected members about its lack of operation and utility.
Fund Generation Underway
Santosh Warule, head of the solid waste management department at PMC, stated that the process of fund generation to start electricity production is currently underway and is expected to be completed soon. Officials also expressed hope of receiving financial aid from the central government for the project.
Criticism from Opposition
Nilesh Nikam, leader of opposition in PMC, criticized the administration for making big claims about power generation that remained on paper, leading to a waste of public funds. He emphasized that neither the purpose of generating electricity nor the disposal of trash has been served, urging the project to start at the earliest. He also called for improvements to other plants operating at low capacity.
Current Waste Generation and Management
According to official data, Pune city generates approximately 2,300 metric tonnes of garbage daily. The PMC deploys over 350 vehicles for collecting and transporting waste.
Central Government Support
The Union government provides central financial assistance to project developers and service charges to implementation and inspection agencies for successful commissioning of waste-to-energy plants. These plants are designed to generate biogas, bio-CNG, enriched biogas, compressed biogas, and power or syngas.
