Residents in and around Vellalore and activists are worried about the notice that waste management company had sent to the Coimbatore Corporation.
The company, Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Pvt. Ltd. (CIWMCPL), that processes about 50% of the city’s waste in Vellalore had sent the notice a few days ago asking the Corporation to pay at least ₹ 15 crore by the end of this month or treat the notice as a preliminary intimation for termination of contract. The Corporation, the company, said owed it ₹ 56.93 crore.
The company’s letter has the Vellalore residents worried, who say their situation could go turn worse if waste processing is stopped.
CIWMCPL stopping waste processing will result in Corporation dumping an additional 500 tonnes mixed waste in the Vellalore yard. Or, in other words, the Corporation will be dumping the entire city’s waste, 1,000-odd tonnes a day, in the yard, says J. Daniel of Vellalore Kuppaikidangu Ethirpu Kuzhu (a residents’ collective opposing the mismanagement at the dump yard).
More unsegregated waste means more pollution, more odour, more flies, and more people turning sick, what with the North East Monsoon season only a couple of weeks away.
This clearly shows that the Corporation has not prioritised the welfare of the Vellalore residents and reflected the civic body’s poor financial health, which is a result of mismanagement.
V. Eswaran of MDMK, who took the Corporation to the National Green Tribunal, says the failure to pay the company its dues only showed the failure of Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani.
The Corporation that spends hundreds of crores of rupees in Smart Cities Mission projects is unable to find money to pay the waste processing contractor is surprising, Mr. Eswaran says and points out that waste accumulation in Vellalore will not only pose a threat to the Vellalore residents’ health but also impact the integrated bus stand project.
He says the MDMK will not hesitate to mobilise the residents to stage a protest to draw the State Government’s attention.
Echoing similar opinion, DML MLA and former Coimbatore Deputy Mayor N. Karthik says the Corporation mismanaging solid waste management and its poor financial health squarely reflected Mr. Velumani’s failure as Municipal Administration Minister.
When the Corporation started the solid waste management project for around Rs.100 crore in 2010 when the DMK was in power in the State, the civic body created awareness among residents, distributed bins and paved the way for a successful waste management project.
That the Corporation has almost derailed the project in the last nine years only shows the AIADMK government’s failure.
In a related development, the Corporation has paid ₹ 50 lakh to CIWMCPL, sources say and add that this was no way close to the ₹ 10 crore that the company had demanded by September 20.
