The Times of India 15.02.2014
PMC starts land-acquisition process
PUNE: The civic administration has taken a step towards decentralising the city's garbage processing system, by starting the process to acquire land for five garbage processing units.
"These plants have been marked in the development plan. We have started the paperwork to acquire the land required," Rajendra Jagtap, additional commissioner of the PMC, told TOI.
He said that a proposal to allot funds for the land acquisition for three projects has been prepared and will be tabled before the standing committee.
Of the remaining two projects, the plot for one has to be acquired using transfer of development rights (TDR), the process for which is also under way. The land for the fifth project is owned by the district administration and the civic body has submitted a proposal to acquire the land.
According to PMC officials, the administration also plans to use these plants for e-waste management. The PMC has planned an independent mechanism for e-waste management and small 'waste-to-energy' projects on plots reserved in the city for garbage processing plants. The reserved land is in Baner, Vadgaon Khurd, Ambegaon Budruk and Hadapsar. These projects will each have a capacity to process 100 to 200 tonne waste.
The city generates about 1,400-1,500 tonne garbage daily. As the PMC has stopped open dumping of garbage, about 1,000 tonne is supposed to be processed at the Hanjer biotech company plant in Uruli, while the rest of the waste is taken care of by biogas, mechanical compost and vermicompost units in the city.
Of the total waste generated, wet garbage is around 250 tonne, while dry garbage is around 200 tonne. The remaining 1,050 tonne mixed garbage. The city has the capacity to process 2,000 tonne garbage. In addition to this, there are 27 biogas plants - existing and under construction - in the city, which can process 133 tonne garbage. However, waste generation will keep increasing and the city has to think of setting up new processing units to meet the challenges of the future, city-based environmentalists have said.
