June 2008

Karnataka-Mysore

Correspondent - Shankar Bennur

Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Act came into force in 2000.
MCC plans to set up landfills at Sewage Farm.

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

In focus: A file photo of municipal solid waste dumped at the Sewage Farm in Vidyaranyapuram in Mysore.

MYSORE: The district administration and the Mysore office of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) have succeeded, to some extent, in enforcing the responsibility of scientific handling of municipal solid waste on the local bodies.

Barring the local bodies of Mysore, Bannur and Periyapatna, other local bodies in the district have started disposing municipal waste according to the stipulations of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Act, 2000, by establishing sanitary landfills outside the city or town limits.

After a warning from the Deputy Commissioner, who has been authorised to enforce the Act, the local bodies of H.D. Kote, K.R. Nagar, T. Narsipur, Nanjangud and Sargur, identified sites for landfills, fenced the area and started dumping waste there, in accordance with the norms.

According to the Act, which came into force on September 25, 2000, local bodies have to bear the responsibility of putting in place effective arrangements for storing, segregating, transporting and disposing solid waste generated in the areas under their limits.

The Act had set a timeframe for implementing the solid waste treatment schemes. Accordingly, existing landfill sites were to be renovated before December 31, 2001, and new sites were to be identified and made operational before December 31, 2002. The Act also stated that waste treatment facilities were to be set up by all local bodies before December 31, 2003.

But none of the local bodies in the district adhered to the timeframe, while some which took initiatives abandoned them halfway.

“Once the Act came into force in 2000, we gave three months’ training to the representatives of local bodies on the ways and means of implementing the rules. But, the local bodies did not understand the seriousness of the issue and did not pursue the directions citing financial constraints,” Deputy Environmental Officer Raju said. Although some local bodies made efforts to implement the rules, they abandoned the process after encountering problems in acquiring land for landfills.

Perturbed over the delay, the District Environmental Protection Authority, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, ordered the local bodies to comply with the rules immediately. Accordingly, the local bodies identified land, established sanitary landfills, fenced the area and started disposing solid waste effectively.

The local bodies of Bannur and Peripayatna are yet to establish landfills owing to non-availability of “suitable land”.

Sources in the KSPCB told The Hindu that the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) was said to have been making efforts to acquire land at Bettadabeedu, 30 km from the city, and also at a village in H.D. Kote taluk.

However, the corporation has now sought the authority’s nod for setting up landfills at the Sewage Farm in Vidyaranyapuram, here, stating that it was facing difficulty in acquiring land outside the city,” the sources said.

The Act stipulates that sanitary landfills should not be established within the city or town limits. As the Sewage Farm falls within the city limits, the authority should examine the proposal with care and caution, the sources said.

Solid waste from the city, which is segregated at the source, is being treated at a plant at the Sewage Farm.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/05/stories/2008060559080300.htm