Pirana waste dump could be hazardous

Times of India , Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Correspondent : Tina Parekh
AHMEDABAD: If you drive to Pirana village on the outskirts of the city and turn at the octroi post, you see 30 metre high hillocks on the right, stretching to a kilometre.

Get close and you realise it is a subterfuge for a waste dump — 1.5 crore tonne of filth! Disgusting as it sounds, these hillocks are growing by the day, as the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) continues dumping solid waste collected from the city at the open site.

The AMC seems to have forgotten all about the proposed scientifically managed landfill. This is in complete violation of the Supreme Court guideline which fixed December 31, 2005 as the deadline for constructing one, extending the earlier deadline of December 31, 2003.

The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) is not even aware about the issue. When TOI apprised GPCB chairman KV Bhanujan about it, he said that he would take up the issue with AMC.

"AMC should have done an environment impact study. The waste at the existing site will have to be shifted," he says. At present, huge mounds of waste lie in what was once a 30-m deep 'talavadi' (water body) in Pirana...

Sources say, even the new landfill to come up on the opposite site, will not take care of this dump. Experts say, with areas like Danilimda around Pirana expanding rapidly, residents were vulnerable to inhaling methane gas which is emitted by the waste and the pollution of ground water.

"Methane gas could kill residents who live, say, in 100-m periphery of the dump site and inhale it daily. The municipal corporation must gauge ambient air and water quality standards around the site," said environment law faculty at Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology (Cept) CN Ray.

"There must be an immediate environment impact study done. Proper decomposition of waste will also have to be ensured to curb pollution at Pirana, before waste is dumped in new landfill," Viksat director Srinivas Mudrakartha said.

Convenor of Ahmedabad's Initiative for Reduction (in air pollution) (AIR) Rahul Mangaonkar said, "It is amazing that such a site has been allowed to operate. There is no telling its impact on environment."

AMC officials maintain that tender notices for construction of the new site were out and it would be ready in six months. "We will hand out contracts for production of pellets and power at the site too.

We expect about 7.5 mega watt of electricity to be generated per hour per day," said AMC solid waste management director JS Makwana.

 
SOURCE : Times of India, Wednesday, January 04, 2006
 


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