Protest is brewing at Njeliyanparamba over a proposal to develop the solid waste management plant located there under the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation’s draft master plan.
As per the draft plan prepared by the Regional Town and Country Planning Department, the Corporation has plans to acquire 14 hectares of land besides the 11 hectares now being used as a dumping yard for the development of the plant.
Losing homes
The local people of Njeliyanparamba view the proposed development plan as a threat as many of them will lose their houses and establishments when more land is acquired for the project. Around 350 people at Ayyappankandi and Areekuulam are likely to lose their homes to the project while around 100 small and medium industrial units in the region will be affected.
The public has already started signature campaigns against the proposal.
As of now, Njeliyanparamba is where all the solid waste from the city is dumped at. Only a part of the waste can be processed at the plant that has the capacity to process 60 tonnes per day. The remaining waste that includes mostly plastic and other non-biodegradable substances is heaped in the yard.
The Corporation has plans to remove the heap and send it to recycling plants in Karnataka soon.
With the proposed development, the waste management plant at Njeliyanparamba will be able to handle 650 tonnes of biodegradable waste. If the Corporation’s new source-level waste management project is properly implemented, there will not be any more plastic waste to be recycled.
