Kadapa dump yard to get facelift as Green Park

• Dump yard selected as pilot project
• To develop with World Bank funds
• To be completed within one year

Kadapa: The residents of Kadapa town, who have been facing untold miseries due to a dump yard at Ukkayapalle area for the past 60 years, can now heave a sigh of relief as this dump yard is selected as a pilot project to develop as Green Park with World Bank Funds. The Central government gave a green signal to the Pollution Control Board for developing the dump yard like a Green Park which are now being developed in two States-one in Andhra Pradesh and another in West Bengal. Consultant companies of Gujarat and Netherlands visited the dump yard at Ukkayapalle few days ago and inspected the land, garbage, air and drainage water here. They prepared three proposals among which one procedure is to remove garbage, recycle the plastic waste and to compost the organic material. The second proposal is to dig up the yard partially, remove the garbage, recycle 30 % of plastic waste, cover that with soil and to plant trees and the third procedure is to cover the entire dump yard with plastic sheet and to develop garden on that. The officials felt that the second procedure was the better one to develop the garbage and took a final decision after consulting with the Minister concerned and District Collector Kona Sashidhar. The PCB officials also took opinions of the Kadapa Municipal Corporation and leaders of various political parties to implement the project. The Government asked the Board to complete the project within a stipulated time. Speaking on the occasion, Pollution Control Board social scientist Prasanna Kumar said Consultancy companies inspected the dump yard and put three proposals before the Central government. The government felt the second one was the feasible for the implementation and gave a nod to develop the Green Park with the help of World Bank funds within a year. He assured of providing employment to the workers of the dump yard after giving special training. Several poor people who have been eking out their livelihood depending on this dump yard vented their problems at the meeting held at the Municipal Corporation office here on Thursday. They expressed concern that they will lose their livelihood if the dump yard is removed. Town Municipal Corporation Commissioner John Samson said the Kadapa people had been suffering since 60 years due to this dump yard and they would be relieved with this Green Park. This project will be completed by the end of 2014 and will be supervised for another five years, he added. Pollution Control Board DE Madan Mohan, Social Communication Officer Sudha and other Municipal Corporation officials participated in the meeting.