31-07-2025
Tiruppur Corporation councillors close ranks, mull strategies for solid waste management
Rising above politics in a rare show of solidarity, Tiruppur Corporation councillors on Thursday closed ranks for a constructive discussion to strategise solid waste management at the council meeting, in the backdrop of accumulation of garbage over the last few days due to the strong resistance by the public in local bodies in the rural surroundings to dumping of garbage in abandoned stone quarries.
Members of the DMK, AIADMK, Congress, CPI and other parties unanimously expressed desire to involve MLAs of Tiruppur North, Tiruppur South and Palladam, and Tiruppur Lok Sabha MP, for finding a lasting solution to the crisis, on the premise that the industrial activities in the city that ensures mega-scale livelihood should not be hampered in the overall interests of the economy.
Responding to the plea, Mayor N. Dinesh Kumar said the civic body will shortly convene a meeting involving the people's representatives and prevail upon the local bodies in the rural surroundings to permit utilisation of sites that would not cause harm to the environment.
The overwhelming opinion of the council was that while the State government should step-up attention to the crisis situation, the Central government also had a responsibility to provide funding for solid waste management, factoring in the abundant foreign exchange generated by the textile units in the city.
The Mayor also added that the councillors' emphasis on retrieval of encroached land zone-wise for utilisation of sites well within the Corporation limits for recycling the garbage would be examined.
Officials said 358 OSR (Open Space Reservation) land sites have been identified throughout the city and that ₹75 lakh has been sanctioned by the Tiruppur district administration for fencing the land sites.
The Corporation, the Mayor added, was working on setting right the machinery in the 16 micro compost centres, and was expediting the process for establishment of the bio CNG plant with a daily capacity to handle 200 metric tonnes of wastes.
Mr. Kumar drew the attention of the council to the financial allocation made for the mega project in Karumathampatti for conversion of electricity from the garbage generated in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode cities.
The members sought sensitisation programmes for the public for segregation of wastes at source, and recycling.
Most of the councillors expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of SWMS, the private contractor undertaking the solid waste management activities in the city.
The Mayor spoke about the impending augmentation of the City Corporation's hitherto insufficient workforce with the addition of junior engineers and 15 sanitary inspectors, for better monitoring of solid waste management.
