Panchayats keen to join Corp for waste management
With land not easily available in the suburbs for the disposal of waste, some municipalities and town panchayats near the city are said to be keen on joining the Coimbatore Corporation in its solid waste management programme.They want to use the compost yard of the Corporation at Vellalore as a common disposal facility. This is driven by the non-availability of space in the suburbs for waste-to-manure and landfill projects.Ironically, even the Kurichi Municipality is veering around to the view that the compost yard is the best option available to dispose of waste generated on its territory. But, residents of some layouts at Kurichi and Vellalore (a town panchayat) are actually demanding the shifting of waste disposal from this yard to the Corporation’s lands in the city.The Corporation appears to have convinced the local bodies that the 600-acre yard is the best bet yet for safe disposal methods. The aim is to rid the city and the suburbs of garbage and at the same time ensure that disposal at the yard does not cause problems to the people in nearby layouts.
More than 20 local bodies around the city, including three municipalities, have been chosen by the Union Ministry of Urban Development for infrastructure development schemes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.Having already drawn up schemes for more than Rs. 3,100 crore for itself, the Coimbatore Corporation is the nodal agency for projects for the suburbs.A consultant engaged by the Corporation has drawn up tentative estimates for solid waste management in three municipalities and 20 town panchayats (see graphics).
These local bodies desperately look for some way to get garbage out of their streets and open spaces. But, public resistance to storing of waste and conversion into waste on lands near their colonies has put the local bodies in a spot of bother.The rising population in the suburbs and the resultant increase in garbage keep reminding the local bodies of the urgent need for effective waste management. But the “NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) Syndrome” among the public puts available space out of the local bodies’ bounds.For instance, Vadavalli Town Panchayat has been looking for land for a waste-to-manure project.
But, there is resistance to using lands even up the foothills of Marudamalai. At present, unsegregated waste is collected from houses and shops but only dumped in open spaces. There is only garbage collection and not disposal in most of the local bodies.In such a situation, they may find the Vellalore yard ideal as a common disposal facility.Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran says Kurichi, Kuniamuthur and Kavudampalayam municipalities and Vellalore and Kalapatti town panchayats are interested in joining the Corporation’s project.“They can join as partners in our Integrated Solid Waste Management Scheme.”
Kurichi Municipality Chairman N. Prabhakaran says that the local body has moved a resolution expressing willingness to join the Corporation’s scheme. So have the two other municipalities, he says.“We have no space to dispose of three to four tonnes of waste generated in Kurichi, as people object to use of lands near their layouts. In such a situation, the Corporation’s yard is the best option for all the local bodies in the suburbs,” he says.
