Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Garbage removal: get ready to pay fee, says corporation

Special Correspondent

It is necessary to sustain door-to-door collection of wastes

LISTING BENEFITS: Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran (left) explains the solid waste management scheme to councillors at a meeting on Tuesday. Also seen in the picture are Mayor R. Venkatachalam (centre) and Deputy Mayor N. Karthik (r ight). - Photo: M. Periasamy

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation made it clear on Tuesday that a fee will have to be collected from the people for removing 600 tonnes of garbage from the city.

Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran told councillors at a meeting on the Rs. 96-crore Integrated Solid Waste Management Scheme that the fee would have to be collected to sustain the scheme. But, the Corporation would provide free of cost a green bin to store biodegradable waste and a white bin to store non-biodegradable ones.

"The Union Government has allocated more than Rs. 1 crore to the Corporation for this purpose," the Commissioner said.

(The scheme is to be implemented under the Union Urban Development Ministry's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for infrastructure development in 63 cities across the country. The allocation for the bins here is part of the 50 per cent grant the Centre will give for the project.)

Rs. 10 to Rs. 30

Sensing opposition to the fee, the Commissioner pointed out that the Madurai Corporation had agreed to levy one ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.30. (Chennai and Madurai are the other cities in the State to be chosen for projects under the mission.)

The mission directorate in New Delhi had made clear that primary collection, or door-to-door collection, was the key component of solid waste management. The fee should be levied to sustain this, the Corporation said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor M. Kanagamani and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member H. Meharban felt that the fee would be a burden on the low-income groups. Ms. Meharban said her ward (no.64) had many slums and the people living there would not be able to pay the fee.

Poor sections

The Commissioner said that the council could fix the fee and that there was always the option of not levying one on the poor sections. Even as some other councillors argued that the Madurai Corporation had fixed rates for all sections, Mayor R. Venkatachalam said the Corporation had no intention of troubling the poor.

He, however, said that the fee was necessary to run the scheme. "Our city must be clean at a time when investors from foreign countries are coming," he said.

Explaining how the scheme would help in creating a garbage-free city, the Commissioner said all biodegradable waste (such as vegetable, food and other kitchen waste) would be converted into manure at a modern compost plant. The non-biodegradable waste would be buried using a scientific landfill method.

Showing the picture of a lush green hill-like spot, he said the landfill spot would turn into a lawn for children to play after about 15 years of the process.

Once the landfill pit was used completely, it would be covered and the surface would be turned into a lawn. A green belt would also be created around it. Mr. Muthuveeran said 14 corporations across the country had been chosen for such landfill projects.

The project for Coimbatore would be implemented at Rs. 34 crore. The composting plant with 375 tonne capacity would be established at a cost of over Rs. 16 crore, modern garbage transfer stations would come up at more than Rs. 8 crore and equipment and vehicles to remove the waste would be purchased at over Rs. 20 crore. All these formed part of the Rs. 96 crore outlay.

Transparency

When K. Purushotaman of the Communist Party of India asked what the Corporation would have to pay if a private party were to manage the landfill facility, the Commissioner said a tipping charge should be paid to the operator and tenders would be invited in this connection.

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