The Hindu 19.09.2009
Lalur: Corporation to seek more time from High Court
Staff Reporter
Opposition leader I.P. Paul alleges that the condition at Lalur has aggravated.
Thrissur: An emergency meeting of the Thrissur Corporation on Friday unanimously passed a resolution to seek more time from the High Court to redress the Lalur waste management issue.
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday had directed the Thrissur Corporation to start removing garbage from Lalur within a week.
The order was on the basis of a report submitted by District and Sessions Judge B. Kemal Pasha after inspecting the Lalur dump yard. The HC Bench directed the Corporation to file an action-taken report within two weeks.
The council meeting, chaired by Deputy Mayor M. Vijayan in the absence of the Mayor, noted that it was difficult to begin the work in one week. “The tenders called for the purpose will be opened on Saturday. As the next two days are holidays, a decision can be taken only on Tuesday,” the Deputy Mayor said.
The council also decided to conduct a department-level inquiry into the recent attempt to dig trenches at the Lalur dumpyard to bury waste, which infuriated local residents.
Vigilance probe
Demanding vigilance inquiry into the alleged nexus between contractors for waste management at Lalur and Corporation officials, Opposition councillors James Pellissery and Rajan Pallan sat in protest at the well of the council.
They also demanded a ban on non-reusable plastics. Later, the council gave the green signal for the vigilance inquiry against the contractors for the alleged mismanagement of the waste treatment plant.
Opposition leader I.P. Paul alleged that the condition at Lalur had aggravated as the Corporation failed to initiate effective measures to address the issue.
“The Corporation did not implement the steps recommended by an all-party meeting held at the Corporation on August 3, chaired by Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty.
The recommendations included assigning an expert team to study the problems at Lalur and holding a meeting of flat associations, hotel owners and residents’ associations to sensitise them to the issue,” he said.
