Urban News

The Hindu      22.12.2010

Vilappil garbage plant kicks up a stink

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation's garbage treatment plant located in the suburban village of Vilappilsala has returned to the centre of a bitter political battle between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF).

A resolution adopted by the UDF-ruled Vilappil grama panchayat on Tuesday decided to close down the plant on grounds of environmental pollution and health hazards. The resolution led to an open confrontation between the suburban panchayat and the LDF-ruled Corporation. Mayor K. Chandrika has convened an all-party meeting at the Corporation office here on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Vilappil panchayat president B. Sobhana said the resolution would be submitted to the government. She said the committee had also decided to block the entry of garbage vehicles to the plant from January 1.

Ms. Sobhana said the four BJP members in the 20-member panchayat committee and the lone Independent had backed the nine Congress members to pass the resolutionThe six CPI(M) members expressed their dissent. The resolution was moved by panchayat vice president W.S.Vinod Raj who represents the Chovalloor ward where the garbage plant is located.

Last month, the Nemom block panchayat had adopted a similar resolution. President of the block panchayat M. Manikantan told The Hindu that the operation of the garbage plant was unscientific. “There has been no treatment over the last three years. The waste is dumped on the premises and left to rot. The dark leachate flows out of the dumps into the Meenampally stream which joins the Karamana river.”

Notice to Corporation

Mr. Manikantan said the heavy pollution caused by the plant had rendered the northern part of the panchayat uninhabitable. “Residents are forced to move out after selling their property at throw-away prices.” He said the Corporation had failed to ensure proper safeguards or monitor the functioning of the plant which was constructed without the mandatory licence from the panchayat. UDF members of the block and gram panchayats visited the plant on Monday. “The Corporation will be issued notice to stop all unauthorised constructions inside the premises,” Mr. Manikantan said.

Deputy Mayor G. Happikumar said the resolution was politically motivated. “After spending crores on the plant and operating it all these years, there is no going back for the Corporation. The project is functioning well and efforts are on to streamline the operation further under the supervision of the Ombudsman for Local Self government Institutions. We are in the process of acquiring more land to augment the facilities. The construction of the leachate treatment plant is going ahead.”

Congress version

District Congress Committee president V.S.Sivakumar said the delay in construction of the leachate treatment plant had led to the closure demand. He urged the Corporation to defuse the situation by convening discussions with representatives of the panchayat. Mr. Sivakumar proposed a decentralised network of small treatment plants across the city to reduce the quantum of garbage reaching Vilappil.

BJP decision

BJP leader in the Corporation Council P. Ashok Kumar said the threat to close down the garbage plant was unwarranted. When pointed out that the BJP members in the Vilappil panchayat had backed the resolution, he said they were pressured by local compulsions.

Mr. Ashok Kumar, however, blamed the LDF for failure to ensure appropriate environmental safeguards for the plant. “It is shameful that the residents in the Vilappil panchayat have to endure pollution problems 10 years after the plant went on stream.” He added that there was no question of closing down the plant or relocating it.

The resolution adopted by the grama panchayat is the culmination of the changed political situation in the region following the victory of the UDF in the elections to local self government institutions. The UDF had wrested the Vilappil panchayat from the LDF.