Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali has said although the Supreme Court and the High Court have directed that the Vilappilsala solid waste-treatment plant of the city Corporation be reopened, the State government knows it will be difficult to reopen the plant without the support of the local people.
He was speaking after inaugurating the district-level pre-monsoon cleaning campaign coordinated by Health Department at Rajaji Nagar Colony here on Thursday.
Mr. Ali said the State government had placed orders for procuring high-end technology-driven projects to tackle garbage management crisis in the city. “We have placed an order for a 35-tonne a day garbage treatment plant that will produce electricity out of the garbage treated at the plant. The plant is expected to become functional within six months. Mobile incinerators to process garbage accumulated in public places in the city will also be procured soon,” he said.
Mr. Ali said the government had also mooted projects to set up mega garbage treatment plants having a processing capacity of around 500 tonnes a day at Kozhikode, Ernakulam, and Thiruvananthapuram.
Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, Mayor K. Chandrika, and District Collector K.N. Satheesh, were among those present at the function.
“We have distributed Rs.25,000 per ward for pre-monsoon cleaning activities. It will be mass campaign involving various departments,” Mr. Sivakumar said.
