The Chennai Corporation has intensified its search for technology for remediation and scientific closure of the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards. This action comes in the wake of the National Green Tribunal setting aside the environmental clearance granted by the Tamil Nadu government to the integrated solid waste management facility at Perungudi.
Apart from the initiative of reversing the environmental damage in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur, the civic body on Monday invited expression of interest for two more solid waste management initiatives from multinational companies. This includes the design of a scalable and modular plant with a future capacity of processing 10,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day.
The scope of work in another initiative covers street cleaning and door-to-door collection of garbage. All the three initiatives will be in the public-private partnership mode.
The civic body now generates over 4,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste on a daily basis and has 10 dumping sites across the 426 sq km area. These pieces of land are also likely to be used for the initiatives as the current methodologies adopted at the sites are proving to be disadvantageous.
Accumulation of methane gas in the waste has been causing sporadic fires which pollute the neighbourhood. As the problem worsened in the past few weeks, residents of Perungudi staged a protest on Monday demanding a solution.
“We are searching for technology to tackle problems. The expression of interest will give answers to the issues raised by the National Green Tribunal,” said a senior official of Chennai Corporation.
The Chennai Corporation may provide the requisite land for the projects in other localities too. The new projects would include power generation from waste and the project developer would sell power in accordance with the Indian Electricity Act, 2003.
The tribunal had set aside the nod given by the State Government for the earlier Perungudi project saying that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests alone could issue environment clearance for such a venture. It is now for the civic body to make a decision to seek approval from the Ministry for the existing proposal for Perungudi.
The tribunal, headed by Justice C.V. Ramulu, stressed that if any project site was within a 10-km radius from a national park or a protected area, permission could be obtained only from the Union Ministry. The distance of the project from the Guindy National Park was one of the points of contention.
