The reclamation of paddy field for the waste-to-energy project of the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram is turning out to be a daunting task for the State government as the State committee on conservation of paddy land and wetland has rejected the request for reclamation.
The meeting of the State-Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) on the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008, which met in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, turned down the plea.
The SLMC, which endorsed the report of its two-member expert committee against reclamation, noted that the act would lead to serious ecological and environmental damage, sources said.
Incidentally, the expert committee had revisited the site and reported twice on the ecological importance of the paddy field. The Hindu had earlier reported on the objections raised by the expert committee on the proposal for reclamation.
The decision of the SLMC comes at a time when the State government is busily engaged in promulgating an ordinance, which would confer it powers to override the objections of the SLMC and the local-level monitoring committee on reclamations for paddy fields and wetlands for projects of public importance.
The ordinance is expected to be promulgated in a couple of days.
The 15.78-acre paddy field, which has been identified for reclamation, forms part of the Chellipadam paddy field of Puthenkurishu village of Ernakulam.
Section 11 of Act
While highlighting the ecological damage the reclamation could cause, the SLMC also pointed out that the filling up would be in violation of Section 11 of the Act, sources said. Section 11, which deals with prohibition on reclamation of wetland, states that the “wetlands of the State shall be maintained as such and there shall be a total prohibition on reclamation of such wetland and removal of sand” from it.
GJ Eco Power Private Limited, a private firm, had proposed to set up a waste-to-energy plant on design-build-finance-operate-and-transfer mode. The plant with an outlay of ₹375-crore is expected to produce 10 MW of power from the municipal waste collected from the Kochi Corporation and a few neighbouring local bodies.
The expert committee had flagged the possible lowering of water table in areas near the paddy fields and shortage of drinking water as fallout of the reclamation.
While recommending that the paddy fields be spared from reclamation, the committee had also suggested that the 15-acre dry land in the possession of the civic body at Brahmapuram could be used for setting up the plant.
