Even after a year of it filing application for renewing and authorising the processing and disposing of waste in Vellalore, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) is yet to respond, the Coimbatore Corporation has said.
The civic body has highlighted the fact in its October 16 letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department the Corporation.
It has also marked a copy to the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, seeking necessary instruction to the officials in Coimbatore to issue the clearance.
Letter
The October 16 letter, a copy of which is with The Hindu , comes 10 days after a major fire broke out at the waste management facility in Vellalore.
The Corporation with help from the Fire and Rescue Services Department had to battle the fire for over four days.
The Corporation has said that pursuant to the expansion of its area from 105.60 sq.km. to 257.36 sq.km. and increase in population from 10.09 lakh to 16 lakh, there has been a resultant increase in waste generated from 600 to 800 tonnes per day (TPD).
In keeping with the increase in waste, the Coimbatore Corporation had on June 18, 2011 written to the District Environmental Engineer for obtaining renewal-cum-fresh authorisation. To date, however, the TNPCB has not issued any.
The Corporation has also separately written to the District Environment Engineer, Coimbatore, clarifying that the TNPCB was not right in blaming it for poor source segregation of waste.
In its October 13 letter, the Corporation has said that as per Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, it is the primary responsibility of generator of wastes – general public – to ensure delivery of waste in accordance with the collection and segregation system to be notified by the municipal authority.
But in reality, the general public does not deliver wastes in segregated manner to the Corporation.
After detailing the steps the civic body has taken to help the city’s residents segregate waste and gain awareness on the issue, it has said that the fault does not lie with the Corporation.
As for producing compost, the civic body has said that the contractor engaged for processing and disposing of waste has been producing 50 to 80 TPD.
The Corporation has also said that it is in the process of initiating a few steps to prevent the recurrence of fire accidents.
