Mangaluru City Corporation council renews old move to acquire 10.8 acres land in Pachchanady for processing solid waste

Earlier in 2016 MCC council had passed a resolution to acquire the same additional land, it did not materialise due to dearth of funds for purchasing the land; this time it is offering TDR to land owners

The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council in its meeting on Tuesday, January 31, renewed more than a six-year-old move to acquire an additional 10.8 acre land in Pachchanady for processing solid waste. As the old proposal did not make any headway due to dearth of funds for purchasing the land, the council on Tuesday, decided to offer TDR (Transferable Development Rights) certificate to the owners for getting the land.

However, the Opposition Congress in the council opposed the latest decision and urged the ruling BJP to drop the move.

An agenda pertaining to the matter tabled in the council said that the additional land is required for processing the construction and demolition of waste generated in the city and as well as for storing and processing the legacy waste mined during the bio-mining as the landfill site remediation in Pachchanady has begun. It said that five acres of 10 acres alone is required for processing the construction and demolition waste.

It said that Razia Sheikh and others owned the private 10.8 acre land adjacent to the existing solid waste processing unit at Pachchanady. The owners have agreed, but not in writing, to part the land provided they are issued with TDR certificate in lieu of compensation. The owners had been contacted over phone.

The agenda said that earlier, the council in its meeting on September 24, 2016 had resolved to acquire the same land for its solid waste management purpose. Later a price fixation advisory committee headed by the then Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner had fixed the land cost at ₹8 crore. Accordingly, the corporation on November 30, 2019 wrote to the government to release the fund required for purchasing the land. But, the government till date has not responded to the demand and released the fund.

Raising objection to the move, the Leader of the Opposition in the council Naveen R. D’Souza demanded that the proposal should be dropped as acquiring more land to process solid waste is not the solution. Instead, the approach should be on reducing waste generation and on recycling at the local level.

He said that if the additional land to be acquired is used as a landfill site for dumping the construction and demolition waste, it might lead to another tragedy of legacy waste slip like the one which happened in Pachchanady in August, 2019. The corporation might require another ₹60 lakh for bund/retaining wall construction in the site proposed for acquisition, he said.