Waste processing facility proposed on 30 acres

March 24, 2010 03:21 am | Updated 03:21 am IST - CHENNAI:

Heated arguments mark a public hearing in Velachery on Tuesday. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

Heated arguments mark a public hearing in Velachery on Tuesday. Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

The Integrated Solid Waste Processing plant proposed by the Chennai Corporation at the Perungudi dump yard will occupy 30 acres of the 125-acre Pallikaranai marshland. The remaining area will be converted into green spaces, the Corporation Commissioner, Rajesh Lakhoni, said here on Tuesday.

Making a detailed presentation on the project proposal, he said the facility would be set up at a cost of Rs.50 crore. He was addressing a public hearing on the project, which witnessed heated arguments between those for and against the project. He said that the civic body could not continue piling garbage. “What comes in as garbage, after composting of organic matter, will go out as Refuse Derived Fuel at the facility,” he said.

Critics of the project raised two key objections - the unsuitability of setting up any facility within the Pallikaranai marsh and environmental impacts of incineration. T. Swaminathan, professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-M, said, “The project site is unsuitable for any kind of waste management activity. Besides, any project which involves burning cannot be environmentally viable.”

Allaying concerns, Mr. Lakhoni said that there would be no in situ burning of garbage. “The RDF will be sent to cement kilns where it will be burnt along with 95 per cent normal fuel. The facility will also have an in-house effluent treatment facility to reuse the leachate formed during composting.”

According to Corporation sources, of 65 people who spoke at the hearing, 52 were in support and 13 opposed.

A few participants protested the process itself alleging that a group of people appropriated most of the space in an attempt to drown out other voices. “Most of the affected residents were not given a chance to speak,” said Mary Mani, president of the Thoraipakkam Ladies Club. “Zonal-level segregation is the real solution. Mixed garbage should never be brought to the dump site.”

Four resident welfare associations – of Sri Sai Nagar, Kalakshetra Colony, Valmiki Nagar and Thoraipakkam – along with the Save Pallikaranai Marshland Forum and Community Environment Monitoring Group adopted resolutions in the evening expressing concern over the manner in which the hearing was conducted.

Kancheepuram Collector Santhosh K. Misra presided over the hearing, in which Mayor M.Subramanian participated.

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