City Corporation on Saturday re-opened the Vilappilsala solid waste treatment plant which was closed down more than a month back by the Vilappil panchayat following a mass agitation against the plant.
Corporation officials were accompanied by Additional District Magistrate Girija and a formidable police force of around 130 police personnel.
City mayor K. Chandrika said that the Corporation had held discussions with top police officials on Friday requesting police protection to re-open the plant as per the High Court interim order.
“The HC order makes it very clear that the Vilappilsala plant must be re-opened until an alternative arrangement was made for treating waste collected from the city. The HC had also directed the state government to provide us police protection to run the factory. As per this we held discussions with police officials on Saturday following which it was decided to re-open the factory by 11 a.m. on Sunday,’’ Ms Chandrika said. She said that as of now only the un-treated waste accumulated inside the plant will be processed. However, from February 13, garbage collected from the city will also be transported to the plant.
Meanwhile, Vilappil panchayat president Shobhana Kumari said that the panchayat had not received any official communication regarding the re-opening of the plant.
“We only got to know about it from the people after police reached there. The panchayat respects the HC decision. For the same reason we will not oppose this move. However if the Corporation tries to bring garbage collected from the city to the plant, the people of Vilappil will oppose it and the panchayat will only take a stand favoring the people,’’ Ms Shobhana Kumari said.
