Waste woes to haunt polls

KOCHI: Kerala is gearing up for the Assembly poll a week after the Vilappilsala Samara Samithi called off its protests after many years.  The Samithi agitating against the waste processing plant on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram ended it in the wake of the National Green Tribunal ordering its closure.

Accumulation of solid waste is a major public health hazard in the state, both in urban and rural areas, where the political leadership failed miserably to find a lasting solution. More than the failure, in most cases the problem came handy for the unholy politician-bureaucrat-businessman alliance to make money by setting up unsustainable ventures in the name of waste processing plants.

“I strongly suspect that most of the waste processing plants in the state are nothing but a well-planned move for looting public wealth,” says Thushar Nirmal Saradhy, a human rights activist. Many residents' associations across the state are of the view that political parties have failed to address the issue properly.

“Political leaders may talk in great detail about the waste problem during the election campaign, but I don’t think they would take any positive step to resolve the issue,” said Prabha Gopalakrishnan, general secretary of Residents Associations’ Coordination Council in Ernakulam.

“The situation in Kalamassery is a good example,” she said. Paraniyam Devakumar, the patron of Federation of Residents’ Associations, Thiruvananthapuram (FRAT), said the state government had promised to set up an alternative system within six months before the closure of the Vilappilsala garbage plant that used to process the entire waste of the city.

“The government failed to fulfill the promise for the past two years,” he said.
The city corporation ruled by LDF with limited resources has helped households in processing organic waste at its source. “Unfortunately, their e-waste and plastic waste collection are not working well,” he said.

“Political parties and administration need to keep us informed about the real magnitude of success of each of their waste management plan.” He also said that people are curious about what is happening to the plastic collected by the civic body.

Ranganatha Prabhu, president of Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council (EDRAAC) it was a big problem in cities like Ernakulam, where Brahmapuram waste management plant commissioned in 2002 turned out to be a disaster.

“A clear policy for decentralised waste management is the only solution. But, no government is taking the initiative for such a policy,” he said. “The issues of e-waste and medical waste also need to be addressed in an urgent manner. I don’t think these issues will be discussed in the upcoming elections as they assume more importance at the local body elections.”

“Discussions and efforts to start a decentralised waste management began in Kerala only because of Vilappilsala agitation,” says S. Burhan of Vilappilsala Janakeeya Samithi. “No political parties supported us during the initial stages of agitation close the garbage factory.”

Towards the end, all political parties supported management of waste at its source. People’s stir can force the administration to take innovative and active steps. “After years, we have ended the agitation last week with a belief that the waste dumping issues here have ended forever. We hope authorities concerned will not create another Vilappilsala,” Mr Burhan said.

Solid wastes dumped on either side of the roads, and railway tracks appear as an eyesore in a state that claims to be a paradise for tourists. P.T.S Unni, former chair of the Calicut City Residents Association, wants political parties to take a proactive role while N. Suresh, secretary of West Hill Chungam Residents Association in Kozhikode, feels the local bodies should devise effective measures against dumping waste in vacant places.