The Hindu 28.08.2012
Garbage brings money to Kochi Corporation
Garbage, which was once Kochi’s bane, has set the cash boxes ringing for the Kochi Corporation.
The
city administration is all set to earn money by processing waste from
the neighbouring municipalities. The Corporation Council had recently
cleared a request from the Thrikkakara municipality for processing the
refuses from there. Following Thrikkakara, Aluva, Eloor and Kalamassery
municipalities have approached the Kochi Corporation for processing the
municipal waste that the Brahmapuram solid waste management plant of the
civic body, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee
of the Kochi Corporation.
It would require the
clearance of the Corporation Council for processing the waste from
neighbouring local bodies. As the Council had earlier given the green
signal for the request from Thrikkakara, it may consider other requests
favourably. A decision on the requests is expected to be taken next
month, he said.
The Thrikkakara municipality will pay
Rs. 552 a tonne to the Kochi Corporation as processing fee. It will be
brining around five tonnes of waste a day for processing. However, the
rate fixed for Thrikkakara may not be applicable to others. Thrikkakara
was allowed a concession in processing fee as the Kochi Corporation had
been using their roads for the transport of waste. The Council is of the
view that local bodies should be charged Rs. 1000 a tonne for
processing at Brahmapuram, explained Mr. Ashraf.
Segregated waste
The
Kochi Corporation will insist that the local bodies should send only
segregated waste to its plant site for processing. The two health
officials of the Corporation posted at the plant site would inspect the
lorries bringing the refuses to the plant for processing. Only vehicles
bringing in segregated would be let in, he said.
The
festival days have increased the workload of those at Brahmapuram. On an
average, around 25 tonne food waste is being been added to the regular
quantity these days, taking the total of waste reaching the plant site
to 175 tonnes, said A.A. Baiju of Waste Environ Green, the agency which
is running the plant for the Kochi Corporation. The inclement weather
Kochi had been experiencing during the past weeks has slowed down the
processing at the plant. Waste was dampened by the water that seeped
into the floor of the plant delaying the treating of waste. Around 85
per cent of the accumulated waste has been processed. The poorly
segregated waste has also been delaying the processing. Additional hands
have been deployed for segregating the waste at the plant, Mr. Baiju
said.
City administration will earn money by processing waste from neighbouring municipalities.