Panel cancels contract of Co building stp

KOTTAYAM: The high-power committee on Sabarimala has terminated the contract of a private company constructing the sewage treatment plant at Sannidhanam following its failure to fulfil the norms prescribed by the Pollution Control Board. The committee has issued a notice to the Hyderabad-based company terminating the contract.

The PCB had cancelled the approval for the plant in April this year after the TDB could not meet the norms, including the establishment of  the sewage network and disinfection systems.  The SWT was approved in September 2017 on the condition that the coliform count of the treated sewage should not exceed 230 per 1,000 millilitre a day. However, the current coliform cou-nt is far beyond that level.

Mr R. AjithKumar, executive engineer in charge of Sabarimala, said the committee will entrust the work to another company which can meet the PCB norms. The committee may not pay the balance amount of '1 cr due to the present company.

He hoped that the norms will be fulfilled within a short period. Since the network system is not connected, the sewage had spilled over the plant.

The PCB authorities said that the plant will be given approval only after the TDB implements the norms.  Mr Alexander George, environmental engineer of PCB at Pathanmathitta, said that the waste water at present may reach the Njurinjal stream and then Pampa polluting the river.

Though the SWT at Sannidhanam is to process 5 lakh litres of waste a day, it can process only 3.5 lakh litres. According to PCB section 33A of the Water Act, a case has to be charged if the establishment didn’t adhere to the PCB norms.