Coimbatore corporation halts open dumping at Vellalore, to clear legacy waste by Oct

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has informed the National Green Tribunal that it has achieved nil open dumping at Vellalore dump yard since Dec 22, 2025. The corporation informed the NGT that it will clear the accumulated legacy waste by October 2026.As directed by the NGT Southern Zone in connection with the Vellalore fire accident case, the CCMC filed a compliance report to the tribunal on Jan 12.The civic body reported measurable progress in the phase 2 of the bio-mining of legacy waste at the Vellalore compost yard, even as challenges remain in achieving revised processing targets, according to official reports and assessments by the Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), Anna University.As per the revised action plan submitted on Aug 6, a total of 7,94,139 metric tonnes of legacy waste spread across 84.62 acres had been identified for clearance. The work order was issued on Feb 19, 2025, and on-ground operations commenced on March 6. The three-month mobilisation period concluded by May, during which the required manpower and machinery were deployed to enable systematic operations. As per the contract terms, the project should be completed within 24 months, with a targeted completion date of April 2027.According to the CES report, 2,20.559.33 tonnes of legacy waste had been processed and 2,06,776.44 tonnes of recovered fractions had been disposed of from March 3 to Dec 31. Approximately 5,000 tonnes of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) was stored at the site.The NGT has directed the Central Pollution Control Board along with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to assess the ground status and submit a detailed report in six weeks.K S Mohan, secretary, Kurichi-Vellalore Pollution Prevention Action Committee, said, "The corporation's claims of zero dumping is absurd. They are providing false information to the NGT. They do not have an adequate facility to process 1000-1100 MT waste per day."Corporation commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, "We have surely stopped sending waste to Vellalore and have improved the daily collection. We have intensified penalties against bulk waste generators who are violating the norms. By October, the legacy waste will surely be cleared because we have made four trommels running for almost 20 hours, on shift basis."(With inputs from Hrudhyaraj MP)