Private firm to implement solid waste management project
To deal with problems cropping up from the Ramaiyanpatti garbage dumping yard on the outskirts of the town, the Corporation has proposed to execute a solid waste management programme by involving a private agency, which will convert the degradable refuse into bio manure and green fuel.
According to an estimate, nearly 130 tonnes of the 160 tonnes of garbage generated within the Corporation limits is being collected and dumped at the Ramaiyanpatti garbage yard despite frequent agitations being staged by the people living near the facility. As the garbage dumped at this point for the past several years provides a potential breeding ground for house flies and since foul smell emanating from the yard is felt intolerable, the police officials used to pacify the agitating crowd even though they block traffic on the busy Tirunelveli-Sankarankoil highway.
Moreover, the water discharged from a sewage treatment plant near the garbage dumping yard, which was established to treat the sewerage pumped from the underground drainage system, into the Kodagan Channel also triggers the farmers' protest since they use the water for irrigation.
After their repeated appeals to the urban civic body went in vain, the Ramaiyanpatti residents have approached the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court against the dumping of garbage in the residential area. Since the Supreme Court of India has instructed all corporations across the country to have effective solid waste management programme in their jurisdiction for converting the degradable refuse into manure, the petitioners believe that the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court's verdict would put an end to their decade-old ordeal.
To avoid all these law and order and legal issues, the corporation has proposed to establish a sold waste management yard at Ramaiyanpatti to convert a portion of the garbage into manure and take the non-degradable refuse to recycling.
When the Corporation recently floated tenders for identifying the contractors for the solid waste management programme, Madurai-based AAPL Infra Private Limited has been shortlisted for implementing it.
This firm will convert the degradable garbage into bio manure and green fuel and treat the water from the underground drainage to be used for cultivating fodder and other greenery.
“The infrastructure to be developed under this programme on 12 acres of land to be provided by the Corporation on lease for 20 years will be on the basis of ‘Build, Operate and Transfer,' said corporation sources.