Budget: Rs. 60 crore from Swachh Bharat Mission, announces MP Pratap Simha

Mysore/Mysuru: After facing numerous obstacles and experiencing a prolonged delay, tenders have finally been issued to address the issue of over 7 lakh tonnes of legacy waste accumulated at the Solid Waste Management Unit (Excel Plant) located at Sewage Farm in Vidyaranyapuram here.

This waste has been causing great distress to the local residents, who have been dealing with the foul smell emanating from the rotting garbage.

Over the span of 30 years, this legacy waste has been accumulating and the news of the tender floating was announced by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha last evening, through his social media handle.

The MP expressed his commitment to cleaning up the 7 lakh tonnes of waste in Vidyaranyapuram as per the promise made by him and former Minister V. Somanna. The allocated budget for this project is Rs. 60 crore, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission.

The MP extended his gratitude to the former Mysuru City Corporation Commissioners G. Lakshmikantha Reddy, Gurudutt Hegde, the current Commissioner Ashaad-ur-Rahman-Shariff, Mayor Shivakumar, MLA T.S. Srivatsa and IAS Officers Dr. M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan and Manjushree for their co-operation in this endeavour.

As per the information shared by the MP, the tender is titled “Processing and Disposal of Legacy Waste at Survey Numbers 181, 182, 183, and 184 at Vidyaranyapuram in Mysuru City Corporation Limits, in compliance with Central Pollution Board Guidelines.” The tender publishing date is Aug. 3, and the last date for tender closure is Sept. 6, 2023.”

Mysuru city faces a daily waste generation of more than 500 tonnes, and a significant portion of this waste has been historically dumped at the Sewage Farm due to the absence of adequate waste treatment facilities. The Waste Treatment Plant at Vidyaranyapuram, with a capacity to process only 200 tonnes per day, could not handle this overwhelming volume of waste.

Although the Excel Treatment Plant was established under the JnNURM Project in 1996 to produce compost by treating solid waste, a large amount of garbage remained untreated. Residents reported that animal carcasses and waste from slaughterhouses were directly dumped into the plant, causing unbearable stench.

The untreated legacy waste accumulation at the plant led to widespread resentment among the residents of J.P. Nagar, Kanakagiri, Gundu Rao Nagar, Vidyaranyapuram, and Vishweshwaranagar. They not only complained about the foul smell but also expressed concerns about the potential threats to their health and well-being.

In response to protests and public campaigns, the daily waste disposal was redirected to locations like Kesare and Rayanakere for treatment. While the Kesare plant recently began processing waste on a trial basis, its full-fledged operations are yet to begin. The Rayanakere project is also in the pipeline but not completed.

The District Administration decided to initiate a Bioremediation (Bio-mining) project in January 2020 to address the legacy waste issue. Unfortunately, the Bioremediation project did not take off as planned, and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the delays.

Now that the legacy waste removal process is underway, the MCC will be able to reclaim about 17 acres of land, facilitating infrastructure development and providing other amenities in the locality.