Kochi residents say no' to waste treatment plant
Public hearing on the plant will be held on November 7 at the district collectorate.
KOCHI: Opposition to the proposed biomedical waste treatment plant at Puthencruz is mounting. The plant will be set up on 2.5 acres of land owned by KSIDC (Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation) on the FCT campus. The green activists and residents are apprehensive of the high level of pollution as the area already has a hazardous waste storage, disposal and treatment plant at Ambalamugal and the Kochi Corporation’s Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant and a septage treatment plant.
Public hearing on the plant will be held on November 7 at the district collectorate. Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited, an SPV under KSIDC, is implementing the project at an estimated cost of Rs 4.9 crore. The proposal, approved by the state government, is awaiting environmental clearance. The plant will have the capacity to treat 10 tonnes of biomedical wastes per day.
Green activists representing various organisations will participate in the public hearing to register their protest and to share apprehensions over its environmental cost. “Puthencruz area and the Kadambrayar River are already bearing the brunt of two waste treatment plants. Why is the area being selected for such projects? Instead of setting up a centralised treatment facility, there should have decentralised units in hospitals. Large corporate hospitals can easily set up individual units,” said Purushan Eloor of Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithi.
The green groups alleged that the plant would result in high level of air pollution from burning of biowaste. Though the common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility, IMAGE, of Indian Medical Association in Palakkad has been functioning since 2003, waste from hospitals, labs and other healthcare centres in the district is not being properly transported.