Madikeri CMC wages war against waste

As waste menace transforms into a huge problem in Madikeri, the City Municipal Council has finally woken up by issuing strict instructions to public on effective management of household garbage.

Non-government organisations such as Kodagu For Tomorrow and Green City Forum also stepped forward by joining hands with CMC on management of waste at source.

Civic workers also initiated steps to collect segregated waste. Warning signs had sprung up at various places in the city, urging people to segregate the waste into dry, wet and hazardous categories before handing it over to the civic workers, during the door to door collection drive.

The drive on solid waste management will be flagged-off by Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy at Field Marshal K M Cariappa Circle on November 16 at 10.30 am.

Members from Green City Forum and Kodagu For Tomorrow, have been conducting door to door awareness campaigns on segregating the waste. Public were also warned against dump the waste on roadsides. The CMC has plans to install CCTV cameras in different places, to spot the culprits and impose hefty fine on them.

Unscientific waste management in various places has caused a threat to the lives. Due to dumping of large amount of waste at Stone Hill, there is a danger of the collapse of the entire hill. The leachate has been percolating and polluting the environment. The plan to covert the organic waste into compost, have not materialised so far. The topic has been discussed during the CMC meetings, sources added.

CMC Commissioner Ramesh said that on an average day around 30 tonnes of waste is generated in Madikeri. The project of composting the organic waste will be implemented in a full fledged basis, he promised. But eyewitness said machines installed at Stone Hills to convert organic waste into compost was gathering dust. The machines worth lakhs of rupees were lying unutilised for months. However CMC officials claimed that the machines had been repaired.