Mumbai, Sept. 3 -- The state government has appointed a high level committee to probe alleged irregularities in a solid waste management project at the Gokhivare dumping ground under the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVMC) between 2010 and 2017, which resulted in wasteful expenditure of Rs.24 crore. The committee, headed by the district collector of Palghar, has to submit its report within 30 days. According to the government resolution (GR) issued by the urban development department on Monday, the committee has been appointed as per assurances given during the budget session of state legislature earlier this year. Apart from the Palghar collector, it includes the Palghar collectorate joint commissioner (municipal council administration), the principal or an associate professor of the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute and the deputy commissioner of VVCMC, who will work as its member secretary. BJP MLA Rajendra Gavit had raised the issue of irregularities in the Gokhivare solid waste management project in the state legislature, the GR says. The dumping ground at Gokhivare village in Vasai East, the only landfill site under the VVCMC, handles a majority of the waste generated within the corporation. In 2010, the civic body prepared a project report for scientific land filling (SLF) at the site. Tenders for the same were floated in 2012 and 2013, but the process was scrapped on both occasions. In 2015, the project was awarded for Rs.24.64 crore to Khilari Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. Meanwhile, in 2013, the solid waste processing facility at the dumping ground - which segregated non-biodegradable and combustible elements like concrete and asphalt - was destroyed in a fire. The VVCMC failed to restart the facility while Khilari Infrastructure Pvt Ltd was engaged in land filling work between 2015 and 2017, which resulted in only a part of the legacy waste at the site making its way into the landfill. In 2017, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay audited the landfilling project and raised questions about its utility in the absence of a waste processing facility. The high level committee appointed by the government will probe all these aspects, according to the GR issued on Monday. The terms of reference of the committee include inquiry into alleged corruption in setting up of the scientific landfill at Gokhivare, VVCMC's implementation of IIT-B's suggestions regarding operation of the solid waste management project and its repair and maintenance. "The IIT report had raised serious concerns about the land filling project. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report had also said that the entire expenditure of Rs.24.64 crore was wasted due to absence of a waste processing facility," said BJP leader Manoj Patil, who had written about the alleged irregularities to the VVCMC commissioner in 2022....