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