The demolition waste from any house must be mandatorily handed to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) so a plant meant to process construction and demolition waste can function optimally, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
Waste generated during construction, too, has to be sent to the plant, said an official of the civic body.
The Telegraph had reported in July that only 15 tonnes of waste was being fed into the plant daily, way below its capacity to process 500 tonnes of waste in a day. The plant in New Town, run by the KMC, was inaugurated in April.
The plant is supposed to use construction and demolition waste — including concrete chunks, bricks and cement — and build paver blocks out of them. The paver blocks are used to pave footpaths and common areas of many apartment blocks.
Hakim also said several municipalities have been told to send the construction and demolition waste to the plant to ensure that it has enough raw material to process. An official said municipalities in the districts surrounding Kolkata have been intimated to send the waste to the plant.
A large proportion of the construction and demolition waste generated in the city is being used to fill water bodies on the outskirts of Kolkata, Hakim had earlier said. He alleged that a section of builders were behind this illegal filling of water bodies.
In almost every neighbourhood in the city, local contractors take away waste from a house that is undergoing repairs or being pulled down. The owner has no idea where the waste is taken.
On Friday, Hakim said people should be aware of the fact that the waste generated during demolition of a building or construction of a new one is being used in a manner that endanger nature.
“Reach out to us and we will pick up the waste from the site,” Hakim said on Friday, while displaying the WhatsApp number 8335999111 that people can reach out to for removal of waste.
“I have asked police to keep an eye on the Majerhat bridge, through which lorries carrying such waste travel,” he said.
The KMC Building Rules require the owner of any property to intimate the civic body before its demolition. An official said whenever someone intimates the KMC, the civic body asks for an estimate of the waste to be generated.
The owner will be charged a transportation fee for picking up and transporting the waste.
Building plans will not be approved unless the transportation charge is paid by the owners, the official said.
“When a building is complete, we will ask the owner for the receipt issued by the plant acknowledging that waste from the site was sent to the facility. The completion certificate of the new building will be issued only if these receipts are submitted,” said the official.
KMC officials admitted that the civic body has hardly organised awareness programmes to inform people about the existence of the plant and that anyone repairing or demolishing a house can send the waste to the plant.