Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 2: The Municipal Committee (MC) Awantipora today said that the Solid Waste Management (SWM) plant at Padgampora will be made functional within the next one month.
Speaking to ‘Excelsior’, Executive Officer (EO) MC Awantipora, Tariq Hassan Lone, said that 15 kanal of State land has been allotted by the Government for the project and several components have already been completed or are nearing completion.
He said that the construction of the working shed, approved at a cost of Rs 78 lakh and allotted Rs 69.64 lakh, has been completed 100 percent.
“Another major component is machinery. Nine machinery components have already been installed. Electrification is currently under execution. It will take nearly one month to complete it and the plant will be made functional,” he said.
Responding to public complaints regarding accumulation of waste at the site, the Executive Officer said the plant is not yet fully functional.
“Legacy waste is being cleared. Once the plant becomes operational, waste will not remain accumulated at the site,” he said.
As per the Vision Document of the district, the plant has been projected to come up at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
Official records show that Rs 207.76 lakh has been approved for the SWM plant under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) components.
According to an official status report dated December 23, 2025, Rs 129.58 lakh was sanctioned under SBM and Rs 78.18 lakh under the NGT component.
Under SBM, Rs 100.48 lakh has been released, of which Rs 67 lakh has been utilised.
Apart from the completed working shed, another SBM component-construction of composite pits-was approved at Rs 51.58 lakh and allotted Rs 43.30 lakh.
While Rs 33.48 lakh has been released for the work, no amount has been shown as utilised so far, despite the work being recorded as physically completed.
An additional demand of Rs 9.82 lakh is pending for the financial year 2025-26.
In contrast, no funds have been released or utilised for works approved under the NGT component, despite approvals worth Rs 78.18 lakh.
These include procurement of machinery costing Rs 39.64 lakh, electrification of the plant estimated at Rs 33.69 lakh, and construction of a borewell approved at Rs 4.85 lakh.
Officials said that although machinery has been installed at the site, the plant cannot be made operational without completion of internal and external electrification, which is currently being executed.
The borewell work, they said, is under the tendering process, while bioremediation of legacy waste is underway.
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