Meeting with Chief Secretary tomorrow; Tenders to be called soon: MP Pratap Simha

Mysore/Mysuru: The controversial Solid Waste Management Unit (Excel Plant) at Sewage Farm which has been inviting the wrath of local residents, thanks to the foul smell emanating from the rotting waste, will soon be cleared.

There are over 7 lakh tonnes of legacy waste that has been dumped over the last 30 years and a Rs. 58 crore proposal has been sent to the State Government to clear the waste.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said that a meeting will be held with State Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma in Bengaluru tomorrow where the project will be discussed.

“We will get the Rs. 58 crore legacy waste project cleared at the meeting with the Chief Secretary and the tender will be called immediately. This has been a long-pending demand from the residents of the area and we will get this work done,” the MP said. Yesterday, Pratap Simha met Urban Development Department Secretary Dr. M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan in Bengaluru on drinking water schemes under AMRUT-2 (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) project and later said in a note that the legacy waste issue is being addressed and the project will get Government approval in a day or two.

Mysuru city generates more than 500 tonnes of waste every day and the bulk of the waste was regularly dumped at the Sewage Farm in the absence of other waste treatment plants. This had been a major challenge for the MCC as the Waste Treatment Plant at Vidyaranyapuram had a capacity to process only 200 tonnes per day.

The Excel Treatment Plant was set up under the JnNURM Project in 1996 and solid waste is treated to produce compost. However, tonnes of garbage go untreated. Residents said that the animal carcass and other waste from slaughterhouses were dumped directly into the plant, leading to unbearable stench.

The untreated legacy waste accumulating at the plant had sparked widespread resentment among the residents of J.P. Nagar, Kanakagiri, Gundu Rao Nagar, Vidyaranyapuram and Vishweshwaranagar, who had complained not only of foul smell, but also threat to their health and well-being.

After a series of protests and public campaigns, the daily waste was shifted to locations like Kesare and Rayanakere for treatment.

 The District Administration took a decision in January 2020 to go ahead with a Bioremediation (Bio-mining) project to clear the legacy waste but the Bioremediation project failed to take off. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic further added  to the delay.

Once the legacy waste is cleared now, the MCC can reclaim about 17 acres of land for infrastructure creation and providing other facilities in the locality.