The Hindu 30.09.2011
Corporation fails to renew PCB authorisation
Civic body warned of legal action over delay
The State Pollution Control Board has pulled up the Kochi Corporation
for not renewing the authorisation under the Municipal Solid Waste
(Management and Handling) Rules for collection, segregation,
transportation and suitable disposal of municipal waste.
The authorisation given by the board had expired more than a year ago.
Reliable sources in the board said that the civic body’s delay made all
its waste disposal operations ‘illegal and in violation of the municipal
solid waste rules.’ The corporation is likely to face legal action, as
it had not initiated any steps to renew the authorisation despite
receiving at least three reminders from the board.
According to the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, the municipal authority or
an operator of a facility shall make an application in Form-I for grant
of authorisation for setting up waste processing and disposal facility,
including landfills, from the State board.
Senior board officials said that the corporation should have organised
house-to-house collection of municipal solid waste through community bin
(central bin) or house-to-house collection or collection on regular
pre-informed timings, as per the provisions included under the municipal
solid waste rules.
The civic body should also devise collection of waste from slums and
squatter areas or localities, including hotels, restaurants, office
complexes and commercial areas. Waste from slaughter houses, meat and
fish markets, fruits and vegetable markets, which are biodegradable in
nature, should be managed scientifically.
Biodegradable waste
The corporation should introduce storage facilities by taking into
account quantities of waste generation in a given area and the
population densities in each region. Steps need to be taken to ensure
that the storage facility is accessible to the users. The biodegradable
waste should be processed by composting, vermi-composting, anaerobic
digestion or any other appropriate biological processing for
stabilisation of wastes.
Board sources said that the corporation had failed to adhere to the
rules thanks to the breakdown in the collection, storage and disposal of
solid-waste mechanism, especially after the Brahmapuram solid-waste
treatment plant became defunct.
Preliminary studies made by the board found that the civic body had failed miserably to tackle the solid-waste menace properly.
It is learnt that the board will soon write to the corporation asking
why legal action should not be taken against it for not renewing the
authorisation under the municipal solid-waste management rules.
Keywords: Kochi Corporation
