Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Solid waste management without a safe disposal system

K.V. Prasad

Garbage is dumped on vacant sites; local bodies have no disposal system

ABUSED: A house site turned into a garbage dump at Veerakeralam near the city points to the need for better waste management. — Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: Even as the Coimbatore Corporation rejoices over the Central Government clearing a scheme for waste management, garbage burns at the dump yard at Vellalore on the city's southern border. The nearly five-year-old problem only highlights the lack of a vital element in solid waste management: safe disposal.

The municipalities and panchayats in the suburbs are also desperately looking for ways to make garbage disappear. At present, it is collected from every home and dumped on an open land, a pit or an unused well. The local bodies admit it is only garbage transfer and not disposal.

Struggle

The Corporation's struggle has been on for more than a decade. It had to shift the yard from Kavundampalayam owing to public pressure. But, the shifting brought fresh resistance from the residents of more than a dozen colonies in Kurichi Municipality and Vellalore Panchayat. Even a local body of the Corporation's stature is struggling to dispose of thousands of tonnes of accumulated garbage that enter the yard at the rate of more than 500 tonnes a day.

The plight of the suburbs is even worse. Some local bodies still hunt for land for disposal of garbage. Official sources in the local bodies in the suburbs such as Kavundampalayam, Kurichi, Kuniamuthur, Vadavalli and Veerakeralam say that their waste management programme is on for three years. It, however, is not a complete scheme as only door-to-door collection of waste is done. The disposal is neither through composting (into manure) nor landfill (alternate layers of waste and earth in a pit).

Kavundampalayam Municipal Chairman K.M. Sundaram admits that waste from 18 wards ends up on a land close to its northern border with Thudiyalur. "This does not affect people," he adds quickly to clarify that there is no residential colony nearby and, therefore, no complaint of health hazards.

Veerakeralam Panchayat president V.T. Bakthavathsalam says waste collected from the houses in 15 wards is dumped in a well and on a land belonging to the local body. Residents of Anna Nagar in the panchayat point to the waste dumped on a land on the II Street in that colony.

Determination

A few residents say some among themselves should take the blame for dumping waste on this site. They accuse people from other colonies also of this. The snapped barbed wire fence speaks of the determination with which people insist on dumping garbage here.

Residents accuse panchayat workers and also the local people of setting fire to the garbage. "The wall of my bathroom was burnt in a fire that lasted for an hour," says K. Mahadevan, whose house is located next to the site.

R. Shanmughavadivel, who lives in a house on the eastern side of the site says smoke from burning garbage pollutes the area. This calls for a permanent solution to dispose of garbage, he says.

Veerakeralam's neighbour Vadavalli is also not in a comfortable position. This town panchayat also does not have a disposal system. Open dumping is the only option available.

Residents accuse the garbage collectors of dumping the waste on reserved sites or canals as an easy method of disposal.

Land identified

Vadavalli Town Panchayat president Amirthavalli Shanmugasundaram says the local body has identified an acre near Marudamalai for composting. But, the process of identifying operators, including self-help groups, is yet to be taken up.

Mr. Sundaram says the State Government may allot funds for the municipalities to improve waste management, and this may include a safe method of disposal.

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