Chandigarh, March 28 -- The long-standing legacy waste at Dadumajra garbage dump will be completely removed within 10 days, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) has assured the Punjab and Haryana high court. "About 6,100 metric tonnes (MT) of waste is remaining at the site and full clearance is expected within 10 days," MC's counsel told the court on Friday. "Future waste management will be handled through a proposed facility to be allotted to the Indian Oil Corporation, which will convert waste into gas and prevent further accumulation at the site," the court was further informed. Decades of inadequate garbage processing left Chandigarh grappling with three mountains of legacy waste. The first mountain, comprising 5 lakh MT, was fully cleared by December 2022 at a cost of Rs.33 crore. The second mountain, of 8 lakh MT, was originally slated for clearance by July 2023 under a Rs.68-crore Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 project. The deadline was extended five times - to December 2023, March 2024, June 2024, October 2024 and then to December 2024. The target was finally achieved in February 2025. While the second mountain was being remediated, a third heap of 2.4 lakh MT emerged due to continuous dumping of unsegregated and unprocessed daily waste. Its deadline was first July 2025, then September 2025, and later November 2025. Four months later, it is finally expected to be cleared by April after an expenditure of Rs.12 crore. The submissions were made during resumed hearing of a 2016 plea in which directions were sought to MC to clear the garbage dump area. Advocate Amit Sharma, appearing in person before the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry, alleged continued dumping, concealment of material facts and inconsistencies in official records. He highlighted how waste was being diverted and dumped in areas inhabited by economically weaker sections. An incident has come to light in which Punjab Police caught five trucks dumping wet waste in Mohali areas, leading to registration of an FIR after the drivers fled. One more incident was also reported wherein a truck purportedly transporting Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) to Sonepat overturned in Chandigarh. The truck contained untreated wet waste, yet noFIR was registered, he further submitted, adding that in the minutes of meetings of theChandigarh administration, instances were recorded of dumping in Sector 53 and nearby choes, as well as burning of waste, contradicting claims that all waste was being scientifically processed. The court asked Sharma to present tabulation of the instances and discrepancies on the next date of hearing on April 17....