The city, and its Corporation, had all along been banking on one stable solution to the garbage crisis; the setting up of a 35-tonne capacity waste treatment plant at Chala market in January next year. Bad news. The project has been postponed, by two months.
Loro Green Energy Private Limited, the company that won the contract, has demanded that the area in Chala, where the plant is to come up, be cleared of garbage, Executive Director of Suchitwa Mission George Chakacherry has said. “Since the proposal to dump waste in quarries is on hold, due to public protests, there is no place to move the accumulated waste in the market and the Attakulangara bypass to,” he said. The launch date has been shifted to March. In the meantime, the city has to grapple with the impending monsoon.
Two interim solutions mooted in September are yet to take off. The mobile incinerator was to be commissioned on October 2, but the date got postponed to mid-October owing to delays, caused by floods, in transporting the equipment from Gujarat.
“It is expected to arrive by October 20. But a few trial runs have to be done before it can be declared ready for functioning,” said Mr. Chakacherry. By November 1, the incinerator would be up and running and no more extensions would be allowed, he said.
Baling of waste was another temporary option that was proposed. The government was considering it, he said. “Technical and financial committees are examining the two companies shortlisted. By the end of this week, we should make some headway in finalising terms for this project,” he said.
