The Hindu 03.03.2011
Waste disposal in Kannur to resume today
Residents of Chelora end protest
The Kannur municipality’s garbage disposal, which has been disrupted for
the past four days, will resume on March 3, following the
municipality’s assurance to the protesting residents near its landfill
at Chelora here that it will take steps in two months to meet some of
their demands.
An action committee of local residents protesting
against the disposal of municipal waste at a dumpyard at Chelora,
outside the municipal limits, called off their agitation after talks
with the municipal authorities at a meeting convened by District
Collector Anand Singh here on Wednesday.
The decision was seen as a great relief for people in
the town gripped by the inescapable stench from the waste collection
spots here with accumulated plastic bags full of household waste and
other garbage. The municipal officials said the work to remove the
mounting garbage would begin on Thursday. The meeting, attended by
municipal chairperson M.C. Sreeja and Additional District Magistrate
P.K. Sudheerkumar and representatives of the protesting residents, among
others, succeeded to end the stalemate when the municipal authorities
agreed to take certain steps to redress the grievances of the residents.
Decisions
Municipal standing committee chairman T.O. Mohanan, who
attended the meeting, said the municipal authorities promised to take
steps to ensure drinking water supply to the 27 houses in the area that
were not receiving water supplied by the municipality. The municipality
would also take emergency measures to supply water to the residents
whenever the area faced water shortage, he said.
The other demands included expansion of the capacity of
the four existing biogas plants at the dump at Chelora and
implementation of measures to separate organic waste from plastic waste
at the points of waste collection, he said, adding that the decisions
would be implemented within two months. The waste disposal had been
disrupted after the agitation started in the last week of February.
