K. Meera, the advocate commission appointed by the High Court of Kerala, and the environmental engineer of the State Pollution Control Board are scheduled to inspect the solid-waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala, near here, on Saturday.
The commission is expected to reach the plant at 11 a.m. Officials of the City Corporation are expected to be present. Among other things, the commission would study whether the garbage plant is working properly and whether a compound wall is being built around the plant.
Pollution check
The environmental engineer has been asked to study whether there is any air and water pollution due to the dumping of garbage inside the plant. The engineer has also been asked by the court to measure the distance between the plant and the nearby river and to gauge the plant's waste-treatment capacity.
Ahead of the commission's visit, representatives of the Vilappil panchayat laid siege to a building housing cans of an organic solution sprayed on the garbage piles inside the plant.
Their contention was that the Corporation was trying to suppress the smell emanating from the garbage mounts inside the plant by spraying the solution hours before the advocate commission was to visit the plant. Corporation officials present at the plant, however, refused to hand over the cans to the protesters.
‘False news'
Later, Mayor K. Chandrika told a press conference that it was totally absurd to assume that the Corporation was trying to somehow “destroy evidence” inside the Vilappilsala plant.
“The organic solution is something that is sprayed periodically. No constitutional authority has asked the City Corporation to close down the plant. In such circumstances, it is unfortunate that the Vilappil panchayat and the agitators there are trying to spread false news after trying to forcibly seize material that belongs to the corporation. This should be stopped,” she said.
In reply to a question, Ms. Chandrika said it was not the Corporation but the State government that had politicised the garbage issue.
