Rocky area, soil shortage bog down capping works

Jawahar Nagar: It is a case of so near but yet so far as far as the capping works at the Jawahar Nagar dumpyard is concerned. Nearly 82% of capping work has been completed at the 135-acre dump yard. The unavailability of huge quantity of soil for the remaining capping works is cited as the reason for the delay.

The capping works at the Jawaharnagar dump yard started in April 2018 and drew a lot of attention. It is one of the biggest projects taken up by any civic body in the country.

Initially, garbage which was not treated from 2004 to 2012 was covered with a layer of soil. The capping works include seven layers and have been taken up with an outlay of Rs 144 crore. The Central government is bearing 35 per cent of budget expenditure under the Swachh Bharat initiative.

Speaking to The Hans India, Srinivas Reddy, Executive Engineer, Solid Waste Management Wing of GHMC, said, "The capping works include seven layers like clay type soil layer, geosynthetic clay liner, HDPE layer, geo-composite drainage layer. The final topping will be of restoration soil which is 400 mm thickness on which vegetation is to be grown to avoid soil erosion.

"At the 135-acre dump yard capping work is almost completed in 107 acres and in the remaining around 28 acres, a rock fond area, it is a time-consuming process to level the rocks and fill the gaps in between them, however, it will be completed within a few months."

GHMC officials said that actually capping work was to be completed in May this year, but it took a lot of time to gather huge quantity of soil for the capping work. There is a need for around 3.5 lakh tonnes of soil. The GHMC has procured 2.8 lakh tonnes of soil at present.