Biogas plants to be set up at 62 places

Vikas Bhavan, Vanchiyoor court complex, and Music College are some of the spots proposed by the Corporation for the project.

Over the past few months, the city Corporation has been aggressively promoting decentralised systems of waste management through ward-level meetings.

Going a step further, the civic body has now formulated a project to install 62 high-capacity biogas plants in the city. It has sought Rs.7.25 crore from the State government for the project.

Following the success of the biogas plant set up at Sreekanteswaram a few months ago, the civic body has decided to install community-based biogas plants. Corporation officials are compiling a list of all government or Corporation-owned spaces in the city where these could be set up.

Vikas Bhavan, Vanchiyoor court complex, and Music College are some of the spots proposed by the civic body. Once the Suchitwa Mission receives the project report, its officials will examine the sites and provide technical sanction for the project, following which Expression of Interest will be invited.

In the months after the closure of the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant, biogas plants and pipe composts were generally regarded with suspicion by the public, with many voicing concern about their maintenance.

Moreover, people were largely unaware of the subsidies on offer by the mission which is under the State government.

The ward-level conventions had offered city residents a forum to do the paperwork to avail of subsidies and to know more about the plants which appear to be the only realistic hope in managing biodegradable waste.

Wards such as Chettivilakom, where most houses have biogas plants, are almost 100 per cent garbage-free.