Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Proposal to set up compost yard in Kuthambakkam cleared

CHENNAI: The long-pending problem of garbage disposal in Ambattur is set to be solved soon with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board clearing the proposal for establishing a compost yard in Kuthambakkam near Poonamallee.

An Ambattur municipal official said the Board’s decision was intimated to the local body on Wednesday. The 40-acre site earmarked for the yard would be used by the municipality for composting the waste generated in Ambattur. The permission was given after 14 months of scrutiny by various government agencies, including the Revenue and Forest departments, the official said.

A detailed project report for the compost yard would be prepared within a month. The compost yard at Kuthambakkam would be based on the model of Venkatamangalam compost yard, which is shared by various local bodies, including Tambaram and Alandur. An estimated 25 acres in the proposed facility at Kuthambakkam would be allotted to the local bodies of Tiruverkadu, Valasaravakkam, Poonamallee and Maduravoyal, the official added.

It would take about six months to set up the facility as per the norms laid down by the TNPCB. To start with, a compound wall would be constructed, the official said.

As the Board’s guideline requires transportation of only segregated waste to the compost yard in Kuthambakkam, the existing dump yard at Athipattu in Ambattur would be used as a transit point for source segregation.

At present, the civic body handled about 200 tonnes of garbage a day that is generated by a population of nearly four lakh, the official added.

Another official of the municipality said that the problem of erratic garbage clearance in the area would be solved shortly. Tenders would be floated on Thursday to clear the mounds of garbage in the Athipattu dump yard. The work to clear the nearly 1.30 lakh tonnes of garbage would be awarded to a private firm.

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