GHAZIABAD: Waste generated from religious places like temples are often dumped in rivers, causing pollution. To put an end to this menace, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation on Saturday inaugurated a plant in Sai Upvan area to convert waste into compost. The plant, built at a cost of Rs 30 lakh, will be operational from October 2, the officials said.“The city’s religious places generates about one to 1.5 tonnes of what we call religious waste every day in the form of flowers, leaves etc,” said CP Singh, municipal commissioner. “Due to religious sentiments, people generally do not dispose waste in garbage bins or elsewhere. Rather, they prefer dumping the same in rivers like the Hindon or Yamuna, which adds to the pollution in these rivers. So, we thought of an idea to separately collect and treat these waste materials,” Singh added.Before giving the plan a shape, the municipal corporation first conducted a survey and identified 91 religious sites, including temples, gurdwaras, mosques and churches. It was revealed during the survey that on a daily basis, 1 to 1.5 tonnes of religious waste is generated and it goes up to four tonnes during special or annual religious events.“Since it is associated with faith, we have introduced five dedicated vehicles in each zones, which will collect religious waste only by 11am every day from the designated 91 spots. We have also introduced toll-free helpline number on which residents can call up and request to collect religious waste from private places,” said Singh.“These vehicles will ferry religious wastes to the compost plant in Sai Upvan, where it will be treated. The machine at the plant, which will treat up to five tonnes of waste, cost us Rs 15 lakh and we spent another Rs 13 lakh for building infrastructure. It will be operational on October 2,” the civic body chief said on Saturday.

Stay updated with all the Noida Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.