Cleaning up Ariyamangalam through biomining

Under the ₹49-crore project, a private company will biomine the entire volume of garbage by setting up a massive plant
Complete clearing of thousands of tonne of garbage dumped over five decades at Ariyamangalam dump yard is a long felt dream of hundreds of residents of Ariyamangalam, Kattur and surrounding areas on Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway. The Tiruchi Corporation had taken various steps in the recent past to clear mounds of garbage but with limited success. Now, it has begun yet another ambitious project to clear the entire garbage within two years through biomining method.

Minister for Tourism ‘Vellamandi’ N. Natarajan flagged off the project at Ariyamangalam dump yard in the presence of Minister for Backward Classes and Minorities S. Valarmathi and Corporation Commissioner N. Ravichandran on Sunday.

A sum of ₹49 crore has been allotted for the project. Under the plan, the private company, which has bagged the contract, will biomine the entire volume of garbage by setting up a massive plant. It will segregate degradable and non-degradable waste. While the degradable waste will be put into the process of producing organic manure, the non-degradable waste including various types of plastics and tyres will be transported to the cement factories for using them as fuel for cement kilns. Debris will be transported to form roads or fill up low-lying areas.

“The project will be executed in a time bound manner. It will be monitored on a daily basis. Payment will be released only based on the quantum of cleared garbage,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

Citing an estimate, he said that the yard had about 5 lakh tonne of solid waste. It had been accumulated on the 45 acres of land for over 40 years. Under the agreement, the contracting company had to clear 2.5 lakh tonne a year. About 20,000 tonne should be cleared per month.

The company had agreed to employ sufficient men and machines to meet the target. The process would be carried out on round the clock basis.

Expressing optimism on successful completion of the project, the Commissioner said that the Corporation had never paid any contractor for clearing the garbage. But, as per the biomining project, the Corporation would pay the contractor to lift garbage, thereby motivating the contractor to segregate, process and transport the solid waste as quickly as possible, Mr. Ravichandran added.

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