The Hindu        26.08.2014 

Corporation wants to maintain Kurichi Tank

Coimbatore Corporation moves State Government to take control of Kurichi Tank.

Coimbatore Corporation has sought permission from the Public Works Department’s Water Resource Organisation to maintain the Kurichi Tank. According to sources, the civic body had written to the State Government in this regard sometime last month.

If the civic body gets the green signal, it will be the ninth water body under its maintenance. The other eight being Narasampathy Tank, Krishnampathy Tak, Selvampathy Tank, Kumarasamy Tank, Selva Chinthamani Tank, Big Tank, Valangulam and Singanallur Tank.

The corporation took over the maintenance of the tanks in January 2010 saying that encroachments had increased, growth of thorny bushes was heavy, the bunds had to be strengthened, silt had to be removed, the water that flowed into the tanks should be treated, and gardens had to be developed on the bunds.

The corporation prepared a proposal for Rs. 200 crore, then revised it subsequently in 2013-14 to Rs. 232 crore. It was sent to various State Government departments. Based on the Government’s advice, the corporation on Monday decided to take up the maintenance of Narasampathy Tank, Krishnampathy Tank, Selvampathy Tank, and Kumarasamy Tank in the first phase at Rs. 29.47 crore with funds granted under the Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban Development Project.

But the corporation’s move to gain control of the Kurichi Tank has not gone down well with environment activists, who argue that the civic body does not have the expertise to look after the tanks.

The civic body has not done much work in the last three years on the eight tanks under its control. Kurichi will be no different.

As part of the River Noyyal ecosystem, it is better if the tanks are under the control of one agency — the Water Resource Organisation, which has got the expertise.

The activists say that the civic body is short of staff as well.

The corporation’s lack of expertise can be offset if it gets WRO engineers on deputation just as it has planned to take on board engineers from the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board on deputation to oversee water supply schemes, says K. Mylswami of Siruthuli.

He says it will be easy for the corporation to act against the encroachers when it takes up the cleaning of the tanks as it can also look at relocating and providing housing to the people evicted.

Corporation sources say the move to take control of the Kurichi Tank is only logical as the tank is within the city limits and has a direct impact on the groundwater level, something that is of direct concern to it.

The Hindu        26.08.2014  

Waste to energy plant likely by Jan 2015

A waste-to-energy plant where power supply is generated from garbage is likely to be commissioned by January 2015.

The plant in Venkatamangalam is expected to significantly reduce the strain on open spaces in some of the bigger urban pockets in the city’s southern suburbs such as Tambaram and Pallavaram by preventing dumping of garbage and its subsequent burning.

“Municipalities, not just in the city suburbs, but all over Tamil Nadu have been asked to adopt ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ models while handling various types of wastes,” said B. Chandrakant Kamble, commissioner of municipal administration .

At the waste-to-energy plant in Venkatamangalam, around 15 km from Tambaram, the non-incineration facility will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities. The project, spread over a 50-acre site at Venkatamangalam, is being executed under a public-private partnership on a design, build, operate and transfer scheme, Mr. Kamble added.

The plant, which was scheduled for completion by mid-2014, is expected to generate three megawatts of power every hour. “To reduce solid waste filling up dumping yards, Tambaram municipality has launched source segregation of wastes in 157 locations in 10 wards,” said a municipal official.

The municipal administration department has introduced three-coloured recycle bins in red, green and silver in a few localities, to make it easier for residents to pitch in to protect the environment. Each bin could be filled with 700 kilograms of waste.

“People have to choose the silver bin to dump non-degradable waste, red for bio-medical waste and green for food waste. This would make the job easier for municipal staff to take the energy-generating materials alone to Venkatamangalam,” the official added.