The Hindu           07.08.2012

Orders to stop dumping at Pettippalam

The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) has
said waste disposal at Pettippalam is in stark violation of the Coastal
Regulation Zone norms.

In a letter, it instructed
the Thalassery municipality to stop dumping garbage in the area
henceforth. The letter dated July 23 and addressed to the secretary of
the municipality said dumping of waste in the CRZ area was prohibited as
per the CRZ notification, 1991 and 2011. The KCZMA asked the
municipality ‘to stop all the illegal activities in the area and to
undertake necessary steps to implement schemes for phasing out dumping’
in the area.

The steps should be in concurrence with
the CRZ notification of 2011, according to the letter. The KCZMA warned
that non-compliance would warrant action as per the Environment
Protection Act 1986.

The KCZMA’s move followed a
private petition on the issue. It also sought an explanation from the
municipality on the issue, which was also discussed by the CZMA in its
50th meeting.

Responding to the letter, municipal vice-chairman C.K. Rameshan told
The Hindu
that the KCZMA had not taken into consideration the explanations rendered by the municipality in its letter to the authority.

The
arguments put forward by the municipality had not been heeded to by the
KCZMA, and hence the local body would go on an appeal against the
order. This was also because Kerala was exempted from the CRZ Act, he
said. Dumping in the area had been drastically cut down and the
municipal authorities were studying the possibilities of a scientific
waste treatment plant in the area, he added.

Local resistance

Owing
to stiff protests from the residents of Pettippalam, dumping was
stalled in the area between November 2011 and March 2012. After
directions from the government, garbage dumping resumed in the area with
the aid of police force in March that resulted in a violent clash
between the protestors and the authorities.

Only limited loads of garbage were being dumped at the area since then, Mr. Rameshan said.