In what can be seen as a positive development for the city Corporation, Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (FACT) has started moving out manure that had been piled up for months at the Vilappilsala solid waste treatment plant.
The removal of garbage was suspended after the closure of the plant following a mass agitation in December 2011. According to Corporation officials, around 10,000 tonnes of manure, valued at Rs.2 crore, was accumulated inside the plant. Manure was produced as the main by-product of the windrow composting process through which organic waste was treated inside the plant.
Mayor K. Chandrika said removal of the manure from the plant had become necessary, especially after the onset of monsoon.
“We wanted to remove the manure from the plant before the onset of monsoon as rain could cause wastage of the accumulated manure — both in terms of quality and quantity. But in the face of opposition from the local people and Vilappil panchayat, we could not take the manure out of the plant,” Ms. Chandrika said.
“We had requested the State government and the police to facilitate the transportation of manure from the plant and recently we started removing the manure. The Corporation already has an agreement with FACT for sale of manure. FACT will directly collect and transport the manure from the plant. We will only facilitate the transportation,” she said.
Corporation health officer D. Sreekumar said around three truckloads of manure, which was also packed at the treatment plant, was being transported from the plant daily. “The transportation of manure would continue until FACT’s demand for the month was met. They have placed an order for around 400 tonnes of manure for this month,” he said.
Suspended
Transportation of garbage from the city to Kochuveli railway terminal was suspended on Thursday. Mr. Sreekumar said garbage could not be taken to the railway terminal owing to repair works on a train stationed on a track near the garbage land-filling site. “There is no space between the track and the land-filling site to dump or compact the waste. Railway officials have informed that the repair work would be completed in a day and garbage filling can be resumed from Friday,” he said.
