‘Finish capping waste by May 15’

Coimbatore Corporation sets deadline for the private waste management firm.

A file photo of open garbage at Vellalore. Photo: M. Periasamy

May 15 is the deadline the Coimbatore Corporation has set for the Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Private Limited to complete the capping exercise. Commissioner G. Latha told The Hindu that within the date, the company, the contractor engaged in transporting and processing waste at the Vellalore dump yard, would have to cover the waste with earth. The waste to be covered was the one that the Corporation had accumulated but not processed over the years.

She set the deadline at a meeting the civic body officials had with the representatives of the company at the Corporation on Tuesday.

This was necessary for two reasons – one, for the company to show that it was working towards capping the waste, as promised, and, two, to prevent any outbreak of fire.

The Corporation’s dump yard in Vellalore is notorious for fire accidents. In the recent past, the yard had witnessed serious fire outbreaks, some of which extended up to two days. The residents of the localities in the yard’s vicinity were driven out of their homes by smoke.

The very objective of setting the deadline is to prevent recurrence of such accidents, she emphasised.

The second outcome of the meeting was the Corporation asking the company to efficiently manage its fleet in that it had to quickly transport the waste from the transit station to Vellalore. It had come to the Commissioner’s notice that there had been occasions where it took the company more than two or three hours to exit transit stations to carry the waste to Vellalore. This was unacceptable because it should not take more than 15 minutes for the lorries to exit. And also because the delay impacted the Corporation’s primary and secondary collection.

Unless the lorries carried the waste, the Corporation’s lorries would not be able to empty the waste and return for the next round of collection. This had impacted the garbage collection on the street.

Ms. Latha also said that once the company adhered to the directions issued, it would be asked to immediately complete the scientific land filling exercise.