Project report to clear legacy waste at Vidyaranyapuram awaits govt nod

MYSURU: Optimistic about the state government's approval for its proposal to clear legacy waste at the Vidyaranyapuram Sewage Farm - a detailed project report that estimates the initiative to cost Rs 57 crore has already been submitted to the government - Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is currently engaged in preparing the ground to initiate work on clearance of the pile of trash the minute the project is greenlit. Once completed, the residents in areas around the sewage farm will no longer have to live with the stench emanating from the huge mountain of waste.
More than 6.5 lakh metric tonnes of trash are accumulated at the sewage farm spread across 100 acres, owing to the facility at Vidyaranyapuram having been, for years on end, the solitary waste processing unit used by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC). Unfortunately, this facility was unable to keep pace with the mounting piles of waste that kept growing higher as the city itself expanded exponentially. The amount of waste collected across the now-enlarged Mysuru city amounts to 500 to 600 tonnes. The pile of unprocessed waste at the swage farm has today reached truly worrisome proportions necessitating immediate action.
The DPR proposes to clear the waste through bio-remediation or bio-mining, considered the best method for the removal of such a huge volume of trash. The process entails treating the contaminated soil, and sub-surface material by altering environmental conditions to stimulate growth of microorganisms, which will, in turn, help destroy the pollutants.
MCC commissioner Laxmikanth Reddy told TOI, "We will float a global tender once the DPR receives both financial and administrative approval from the state government. In addition to coming as a relief to the residents of Vidyaranyapuram, it will help generate revenue for the MCC, which will be able to reclaim 25 acres of the sewage farm. The company bagging the contract will have to segregate the waste before processing the same."
Mysuru mayor Shiva Kumar said that the DPR had been submitted to the government after it was approved by the MCC Council. "The project is currently awaiting the state urban development department's nod, and Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, and legislators from the city will prevail on the government to give its approval, which we expect will happen soon," he said.