Compost park coming up at Kottakuppam

VILLUPURAM: A compost park is being set up at Kottakuppam town panchayat near here with a financial assistance of Rs. 36.30 lakh from the Asian Development Bank under the Tsunami Emergency Assistant Project (TEAP).

The park will have a vermicompost yard, a biofertilizer unit and a plastic recycling unit. A two-member ADB team of Girish Mahajan, Environment Officer, and Ramesh Swarankar, Social Development Officer, visited the one-acre site recently.

It appreciated the efforts made by K. Gopal, Commissioner of Town Panchayats, and R. Palanisamy, Villupuram Collector, in setting up the park.

The park will be able to produce 15 tonnes of biofertilizer a month from dung. The plastic recycling unit being set up at the cost of Rs. 4 lakh was nearing completion, according to P. Velusami, Specialist (Livelihood), Commissionerate of Town Panchayats.

In a statement released here, Mr. Velusami said that a total number of 51 self-help groups would be involved in running the park.

Once on stream, the park would enable the SHG members to earn an additional income of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 a month.

The solid waste management SHG federation had already purchased modern machinery for the plastic recycling unit at the cost of Rs 2.70 lakh, with 50 per cent subsidy from the TEAP and 50 per cent loan from the Kottakuppam branch of Indian Bank.

The project site would also have landfill site facilities to dispose of toxic medical waste and other hazardous waste. P. Thiruvengadam, Assistant Director of Town Panchayat, Cuddalore zone, Kandasamy, Special Deputy Collector, tsunami project, Villupuram district, Bhanumathy Jayamoorthy, chairperson, and Sabeera, vice-chairperson of Kottakuppam Town Panchayat, accompanied the ADB team.