MADURAI: After a brief halt, the city corporation has resumed the biomining of legacy waste at the Vellakkal dumping yard in Madurai. Official sources said that over 33% of the legacy waste has been cleared off from the venue so far.
According to city corporation commissioner Chithra Vijayan, the corporation has taken several measures to prevent the accumulation of legacy waste.
"For years, the corporation has been carrying out biomining of legacy waste in the Vellakkal area.
As of now, about 33% of the waste mining has been completed. The legacy wastes are divided into seven zones at Vellakkal dumping yard, and of them, biomining in two zones have been completely done. After a brief stoppage, the corporation has restarted biomining in the third zone now."
As per the city corporation records, the city generates around 750-900 metric tonnes (MT) of solid waste per day. For decades, the waste has been dumped in the Vellakkal dumping yard, resulting in the accumulation of a massive portion of legacy waste in the venue. Over the past couple of years, the corporation has been taking measures to remove the legacy waste.
The corporation commissioner further said that works are being carried out in a phased manner. A series of initiatives are being taken up to ensure that no legacy waste will not accumulate in Vellakkal, she added.
It is to be noted that the city corporation has planned to initiate a 'waste to energy' project under the CITIIS 2.0 scheme in Madurai at the cost of Rs 314.69 crore. Through the scheme, several tonnes of accumulated waste in the city will be processed and used for energy generation. Further, the city corporation had also announced in its budget to develop urban forestry in the Vellakkal area, to increase green cover in the city.