Clean Mysuru? 50,000 tons of garbage lies unattended
It’s been two years since the waste was dumped; residents complain of unbearable stink
Mysuru: Sanjay, resident of a new apartment complex in front of the Centralised Solid waste treatment plant here, is all set to sell his new flat at a discount of Rs 4 lakh just four months after he occupied it.
The situation is no different in areas coming under ward numbers 5, 10, 11, 12 including JP Nagar and Vidyaranyapuram in a 1 km radius of the Solid Waste management plant at Visweswarnagar Industrial suburban area here. Reason: The stench of over 50,000 tons of garbage of the city which is piled up in the landfill of Suez farm solid waste treatment plant for the past two years in 283 acres near the APMC on NH 212, Ooty-Nanjangud road.
Of the 402 tons of garbage generated in over 2 lakh households in the city, 65 percent or 260 tons is solid waste while the rest is wet waste. The Centralised treatment plant in Suez farm has the capacity to treat 200 tons. But for nearly two years, at least 60 tons of waste per day has piled up in the landfill leading to the stink which increases when the wind gets stronger especially in the rainy season and winter, residents allege.
But sources at the plant claim that it has come up in an industrial area as per Municipal Solid Waste rules in 2,000 and schools or residential areas were not supposed to come up within 0.5 km of the plant. But a cluster of apartments of a private company have come up right in front of the landfill. There are two well known schools too within a radius of one km.
Corporation Commissioner, Dr C.G. Betsurmath when asked how the corporation gave permission for schools and an apartment complex, said he has not given any permission during his tenure.
When asked if they had plans to shift the plant since it is affecting residential areas in the vicinity, he said,
“We don’t have such plans. However we have proposed one more plant with the capacity to treat 200 tons of solid waste.”
Sources said Mysuru City Corporation has spent as much as Rs 5.5 crore to bury 2.5 lakh tons of solid waste which had collected for seven years in 7 acres of land, two years ago. The remaining garbage too will have to be buried in the same way.