Cornered Kochi corporation starts action

KOCHI: A meeting convened by Mayor Soumini Jain following reports on the crisis in non-biodegradable refuse removal from city areas to Brahmapuram waste treatment plant on Thursday decided to constitute sanitation monitoring committees to supervise it. The committees including councillors, representatives of residents’ associations and traders’ organisations will be constituted in all the 21 health circles.

Mayor, opposition leader K.J Antony and standing committee chairpersons visited waste collection points in different parts of the city to ensure that it is being removed properly. “The Health officials have been given strict instruction to ensure that no garbage heaps is piled up in any area within the city. Strict action will be taken against the officials who fail to comply with the direction,” said Ms. Jain.

Also, special squads will be formed to check dumping waste in public places during the night and those found violating the norms will be fined. Health standing committee chairperson V.K. Minimol, corporation secretary Amit Meena and health officials attended the meeting. Meanwhile, Ms Minimol said regular transportation of plastic waste to Brahmapuram had been restored.

“Collection of non-biodegradable refuse was partially stopped only for a day on Wednesday. On Thursday, 44 loads of plastic waste, which amounts to 87.45 tonnes of trash, has been transported to Brahmapuram. There will not be any restriction on garbage removal in coming days,” she said. “It is not feasible to implement a blanket ban on plastic at one go, the civic body will visit other civic bodies that enforced the ban in a phased manner,” she added.

At the same time, the Left councillors will stage a dharna in front of the Corporation office on Friday demanding immediate measures to resolve the crisis. Former deputy mayor and CPM district secretariat member C.K. Mani Sankar will inaugurate the protest. “The Brahmapuram yard has been filled with huge piles of plastic garbage and not even a single load of waste can be dumped there now. Any slowdown in waste removal will badly hit the city’s health and sanitation as people will start dumping waste along roadsides and streets,” said
K.J. Antony, the Opposition leader.