The Hindu 18.11.2010
Waste segregation plant to be set up in Davangere
Staff Correspondent
| The Rs. 5-crore unit will be set up by April 2011 |
Davangere generates 120 tonnes of garbage every day
Over 150 acres identified for setting up treatment plants
DAVANGERE: The Davangere City Corporation will install a mechanical compost plant to segregate plastic, biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.
The plant will be set up at a cost of Rs. 5 crore, using the Rs. 100-crore Chief Minister's Special grant released to the corporation, authorities have said.
Mayor of Davangere M.G. Bakkesh and Commissioner of the Davangere City Corporation Prasanna Kumar took a team of journalists to Avaragolla on Wednesday, where the corporation has a 23-acre garbage yard. They said the corporation would send a detailed report on the project to the Government. Soon after getting the Government approval, the corporation would invite tenders. The segregation plant would be set up by the end of April 2011, as per the instructions of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, they said.
A six-member team of councillors had been sent to Vellore in Tamil Nadu where a plant with a capacity to treat 740 tonnes of garbage had been successfully set up a few years ago, they said. The team was expected to return in a day or two and give its suggestions on setting up a similar plant in Davangere, where 120 tonnes of garbage is generated every day.
Using plastic waste
Another plant would be set up at the garbage yard to use plastic waste to manufacture crude oil. The company assigned the task of manufacturing the crude oil would give 2 per cent of its total income and 20 per cent of the carbon credit to the corporation.
A tender would also be called for the manufacture of compost from the garbage. For each unit, the corporation would provide no less than three to four acres of land free to the companies.
More land for garbage
Keeping in mind the possible increase in the amount of garbage generated over the next five to six years, the corporation had also identified over 150 acres of lands near Alur and Angod for the disposal of garbage and setting up of treatment plants.
Mr. Prasanna Kumar told presspersons that the stay order issued by a court restricting the corporation from disposing of garbage in the plant at Avaragolla village had been vacated. The corporation would dump garbage at the plant from Thursday. Measures had been initiated to ensure that there would be no foul smell, flies, or nuisance to people of the surrounding villages, he said.
Bio-fuel plants
Range Forest Officer Nilakantappa who also accompanied the team told presspersons that over 1,000 plants, including those used for producing bio-fuel, would be planted around the garbage unit.
Streetlights
Mr. Prasanna Kumar said streetlights in the city would be replaced by light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. With this, the cost of power would reduce by 75 per cent, he said. A company had come forward to invest over Rs. 50 crore in the project, he said.
