State experts to analyse handling of waste in city

A state-level team has been formed by the Principle Secretary of Urban Development Department to study the issue of sliding of garbage at Pacchanady. The team is likely to visit Mangaluru within a week.

Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer said that the team will be led by S Pattabhiraman, director of Swacch Citeezz Infrastructure, Chennai; Dr P M Kulkurni, president, Bhagerath, and director JMS Group of Companies, Mysore; Ramesh, senior environmental engineer, KSPCB; and Nagesh Prabhu C, director, Zigma Global Environsolitions, Erode.

The MCC had requested the team to assess the amount of garbage dumped at the site and also submit a detailed report on the reason for the sliding of garbage. The team will then prepare a long-term plan in order to set right the problem within 15 days.

The report of the team is expected to include a technofinancial report. The MCC has also sought a study on the contract of present waste collection and transportation system in Mangaluru, said the commissioner.

On an average, Pacchanady dumping yard gets 350 tonnes of garbage daily. Two more machines will be procured at the dumping yard to process the garbage before it reaches the landfill site.

DC visits

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu Rupesh visited the garbage slide-affected Pacchanady and Mandara areas on Wednesday.

She directed the officials to prepare a detailed plan for the disposal of already existing garbage at the site and also for the rehabilitation of the victims. Later, she visited victims who were provided shelter at KHB Apartments at the Baithurli-Neermarga area and interacted with the victims.

The MCC commissioner said that, out of the 27 affected families in Mandara and Pacchanady areas, 17 had agreed for rehabilitation. The remaining 10 families were keen on going back to Mandara and had appealed to the MCC on solving the garbage problem at the site. The authorities were also identifying land to rehabilitate the victims, he said.

Deadline

The MCC Commissioner said that the MCC had set a deadline to Ullal and other civic authorities who dump garbage at Pacchanady.

Within three months, they have to make their own arrangement on scientific disposal of waste. The civic authorities have been asked to send only segregated waste to Pacchanady for the next three months.