The Tiruchi Corporation has decided to go in for ‘scientific closure’ of the over 12 lakh tonnes of accumulated garbage at its Ariyamangalam dump, on the lines of a project executed in Coimbatore.
The move comes after the civic body toyed with various other options to dispose of the massive garbage accumulation at the dump. With the possibility of the shifting the garbage dump being virtually ruled out, given the practical difficulties in transporting the colossal accumulation, the Corporation has now decided to go in for the disposal method which has proved to be successful in Coimbatore.
The Coimbatore Corporation has converted huge mounds of garbage into lush green hillocks as part of an integrated waste management scheme taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
A similar project will be taken up in Tiruchi also, Corporation Commissioner T.T. Balsamy told The Hindu on Thursday. “We propose to compact the accumulated waste and create a hillock in an area of about five to six acres in the Ariyamangalam dump,” Mr.Balsamy said.
The garbage dump is spread over an area of about 45 acres has turned a veritable swamp of putrid and reeking mounds of garbage, accumulated down the years. About 350 to 400 tonnes of garbage collected from the city is dumped at site everyday. Local residents in recent years have been demanding shifting of the dump maintaining that it has turned into a health hazard.
One of the objectives of the new waste management project is to create green spaces on the site. A layer of gravel would be spread over the compacted waste, followed by layers of clay, gravel and soil. High quality grass would be cultivated over the hillock.
Rainwater will flow down the hillock into a storm water drain that would runs around it. This would prevent water seepage through the hillock and the waste dump. A pipe would be provided on top of the hillock to release methane gas produced by the garbage dump.
A private firm which partnered the Coimbatore Corporation in executing the project has been asked to prepare a detailed project report for Tiruchi, Mr.Balsamy said. The scientific closure would ensure proper disposal of the accumulated solid waste without polluting the environment. It would also put an end to the frequent fires at the garbage dump. There would be no air pollution either.
Once the project comes through, the Corporation would stop dumping the City’s daily solid waste collection at the site and instead transport them to a new site at its Panchapur sewage treatment farm, Mr.Balsamy said.
The Corporation has also planned to get technical support from the Agriculture Department and hopes to get financial support from the Union government, as part of urban infrastructure development programmes.
