The prohibitory orders issued by District Collector K.N. Satheesh under Section 144 of the Cr.PC have come as a respite for the city Corporation which has resumed the Kochuveli railway platform project to clear the garbage accumulated in the city.
The prohibitory orders came into effect on Saturday.
Transportation of garbage to Kochuveli continued on Saturday despite minor protests by a section of local residents.
Around 10 loads of garbage were taken to the railway station with police escort on Saturday. The garbage will be used as filler material for the construction of a new platform.
The city Corporation had earlier shelved the project following opposition from local people. However, in the wake of the worsening public sanitation situation in the city, including increasing cases of dengue fever, the local body along with the district administration has decided to resume the project.
“The public health and sanitation situation in the city is alarming, especially with the onset of monsoon. Since the disposal of garbage has completely come to a halt, we have no other alternative. If people continue to oppose waste treatment projects like this, the situation will only worsen. It is in this context that the prohibitory orders were issued,” Mr. Satheesh said.
First time in city
This is the first time that Section 144 is being imposed in the city in the context of danger to public health.
The order, which has been issued for a period of one month, makes it clear that no person shall protest against or cause hindrance to the transportation/movement of waste in vehicles to places fixed by the government for disposal of waste to avoid health hazard.
The order has also prohibited functioning of unauthorised slaughterhouses in the city and dumping of waste in public places and drains.
Surveillance cameras
The Corporation Secretary has been directed to take efforts to install surveillance cameras to book offenders. The District Collector had also ordered that wayside food vendors should not be allowed to function after 11 p.m.
“This is actually a warning signal against people who carelessly abandon garbage in public places and oppose moves by the authorities to dispose waste. Violation of the order is a non-bailable offence,” Mr Satheesh said.
No arrests in this connection were made on Saturday, police sources said.
The District Collector will on Monday convene a meeting at the Corporation office to chart out an action plan to prevent disease outbreak and garbage in the city.
To Murukumpuzha
Mayor K. Chandrika said that the Corporation would soon start moving garbage to Murukumpuzha railway station for the construction of platform there. She said that Railways had requested the Corporation to provide around 7,000 tonnes of garbage for platform construction in its different railway stations.
“Railway's request is actually a boon for the Corporation now. That is why we resumed the Kochuveli project. We are not simply dumping waste there but helping in constructing a platform,” she said adding that the prohibitory orders issued by the Collector were indispensible to deal with the emergency situation in the city.
“The Corporation is ensuring that the garbage loads are properly treated with innoculum so as not to create any inconvenience for local people,” she said.
Vilappilsala yard
Meanwhile, Vilappil panchayat president S. Shobhana Kumari said that stand of the panchayat and the local people on the Vilappilsala solid waste treatment plant remained the same.
She said that the panchayat would convene a public meeting on June 13 to discuss the permanent closure the plant.
