To dispose of the accumulated 66,000 metric tonnes of waste at the Ongole dumping yard, the Ongole Municipal Corporation (OMC) authorities finished the first phase of the waste to energy treatment plant built near the Guttikonda Vari Palem village limits in Ongole rural mandal.

The Union provided the anticipated funding of Rs 5.27 crore for the construction of the plant. Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, a former minister and Ongole MLA, opened the facility.

Collaborating with Mahindra & Mahindra Bio-waste Solutions company, OMC has planned to construct the plant at a cost of Rs 11.3 crore to dispose of garbage in an environmentally friendly manner.

Later, the authorities took a decision to establish the waste-to-energy plant in a phased manner and completed its first phase recently.

This new unit will convert around 60 tonnes of bio-waste into CNG and manure for vermiculture as byproducts on a daily basis.

For this plant, the OMC has allocated 8.13 acres of land near Guttikondavari Palem. With over 3 lakh population, the OMC has around 68,000 households.