The Belagavi City Corporation has officially begun bio-mining operations at the old Khasbag garbage depot site, with the groundbreaking ceremony held on Saturday, 26th April. The event was attended by Belagavi South MLA Abhay Patil, Mayor Mangesh Pawar, Deputy Mayor Vani Joshi, ruling party leader Girish Dhongdi, and several municipal officials and employees.
MLA Abhay Patil announced that once the bio-mining process is complete, a state-of-the-art sports complex will be developed across the 11-acre site. He mentioned that since the land belongs to the Belagavi City Corporation, the project will be executed with support from both the corporation and the central government.
The process of clearing the area began earlier on March 3rd with the removal of bushes and preliminary cleaning. After two and a half months of preparation, full-scale bio-mining work has now commenced. With an estimated five lakh tons of waste accumulated at the site, officials anticipate that the project will take about two years—or possibly longer—to complete.
The Khasbag depot had stopped receiving new waste in 2006, following the opening of the solid waste treatment plant at Turmuri. However, the previously dumped waste remained unaddressed for years. Recognizing the growing issue of legacy waste across the country, the central government initiated a bio-mining program and sanctioned funds to municipal bodies, including a grant of ₹15 crores to the Belagavi City Corporation.
The contract for the bio-mining work was awarded to Saurashtra Enviro Projects Private Limited from Gujarat for ₹13.83 crores. The work order was issued on January 16, and after initial clean-up efforts, the main bio-mining activities have now officially begun.
Interestingly, earlier tenders for this project had failed to attract bids. It was only after the latest tender floated in 2024 that the project successfully moved forward.