Now that the government and the U.S.-based Loro Group have signed the fagreement for setting up a 35-tonne solid-waste treatment plant at Chala, the action council formed to oppose the setting up of the plant has decided to intensify its agitation against the project. The ‘second phase’ of the protest, council chairman A. Ramaswamy told The Hindu here on Sunday, would include fasts and dharnas. “We will move the court against the government’s move to set up a plant at Chala,” he said.
Mr. Ramaswamy said the local people were not, per se, against the setting up of solid-waste treatment plant at Chala. They were deeply concerned that the facility might become the only one of its kind which would end up processing all the waste in the city. The people were also concerned that if, by any chance, the plant did not prove to be a success, it would be the common man in Chala who would pay the price.
“The record of the Corporation and the government on this front hardly inspires confidence. They say the plant is efficient and is non-polluting. How does the government know? They are only going by what the company says,” he said. Local MLA and Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has promised to “be with the people” on this issue. The forum representatives would meet Mr. Sivakumar and Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali to present their concerns, he added.
