Authorities clueless as Cheranellore stinks

KOCHI: Mounting waste on roadsides is giving stinking days and sleepless nights to residents of Cheranellore, who blame the local panchayat authorities for not taking any action to solve the issue.

Since last November the issue aggravated due to increased urbanisation of the area and no mechanism to collect waste as well as the wanton behavior on the part of the motorists to throw waste in plastic bags to roadsides.

The new president Sony Chikku and her team are finding it difficult to handle the issue despite there being a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in place with the Kochi Corporation to collect waste from Cheranellore and dump it at the latter’s dump yard at Brahmapuram.

Now the corporation has developed cold feet over dumping as the city civic body itself finding it difficult to process its own waste at Brahmapuram with an existing sinking plant while it is expecting a new waste processing plant to come up in 18 months. The corporation has decided not to take waste from other civic bodies till the new facility becomes operational,

Last September Aster Medcity donated '10 lakh towards handling waste in the panchayat and the panchayat purchased buckets and tricycles with the amount given. “However, these materials are gathering dust while the stink increases and the authorities remain clueless,” said Mohan Mangattusseril, a resident of the area.

Ms Chikku said four personnel for manning the waste gathering mechanism had been appointed through employment exchange and four personnel each for the wards too were in place from Kudumbasree Mission and the Employment Guarantee Scheme.

“But we don’t have a place to dispose of the waste as the Kochi Corporation is not in a position to pick it and we are waiting for the polls to be over to find a solution,” she said.