The Hindu              24.01.2014

MCC proposes another unit to produce compost

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has proposed to set up a second unit to produce compost from solid waste in view of the increase in waste generation and to restrict piling up of untreated waste on the premises of the sewage farm in Vidyaranyapuram here.

Currently, the city produces about 435 tonnes of solid waste daily and the MCC is finding it difficult to handle it.

While compost is produced from about 200 tonnes of waste, about 35 to 40 tonnes go to zero waste management units. The rest is dumped at the sewage farm. Though the authorities maintain that they have been taking precautionary measures, local residents are reportedly facing health hazards due to the piling up of garbage at the farm.

MCC Commissioner P.G. Ramesh told The Hindu that the second unit would be set up at the sewage treatment plant at Rayankere near here. “This unit will be able to handle about 200 tonnes of waste. It will put an end to dumping of untreated waste,” he said.

The unit is estimated to cost around Rs. 5 crore. A detailed project report would be prepared and sent to the government for approval, he added. “Besides streamlining waste management, this proposal also brings revenue to the MCC.”

He said Mysore had five zero waste management plants and five more would soon start operations soon.

MCC’s attempts to turn waste into useful resources have been unsuccessful. It planned to convert waste into energy a few years ago and proposed a plant for producing liquefied biogas from waste. It sought advice from Eskilstuna Municipality in Sweden. But, the project could not make headway though a delegation from MCC visited Sweden to study the system there. It also met representatives from South Korea to discuss technology for generating electricity from waste.

When asked about these proposals, the Commissioner said, “We found the concepts unviable here and therefore are not going ahead with the earlier plans.”

The Hindu              24.01.2014

Rs. 25 crore for road repairs

Deputy Commissioner of Davangere district S.T. Anjan Kumar said that one of the prominent reasons for road accidents in Davangere city was bad roads and the district administration had already initiated steps to repair the roads at a cost of Rs. 25 crore.

Inaugurating the ‘road safety week’ organised jointly by the police and the Regional Transport Office here today Mr. Anjan Kumar said that since the roads were in bad shape, people were unable to strictly abide by the traffic rules. He noted that incidents of two-wheelers meeting with accidents were on an increase in the city because of the innumerable potholes. Hence the district administration has resolved to give a facelift to the roads in the city.

Similarly, an amount of Rs.11 crore had been earmarked for repairing the Pune-Bangalore highway passing in the city, the DC said, adding that construction of a ring road upto Bada cross would be completed soon. Once the ring road is completed, movement of heavy vehicles such as trucks in the city could be avoided, he said. He also disclosed that a truck terminal would be constructed on the outskirts of the city to prevent trucks coming into the city particularly during the day. Different public works including construction of truck terminal would soon be taken up at a total cost of Rs. 65 crore, he said.

Besides bad roads, there was a lack of traffic sense among many people, the DC said, and called upon the police and RTO officials to educate people about traffic rules. The DC said there were more than three lakh vehicles in Davangere city and of it more than 60 per cent were two wheelers.

The Davangere City Corporation had bought certain equipments to discipline the vehicular movement in the city and people would be educated about the equipments before installation.