Sewage treatment at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam is likely to be affected with the contractor of the sewage treatment plant (STP) threatening to stop the plant citing non-payment of his bill by the Travancore Devaswom Board.
In a letter to Devaswom Commissioner C.P. Ramaraja Prema Prasad, who is also the ex-officio member secretary of the High Power Committee (HPC) for implementation of Sabarimala Master Plan, on Thursday, Viswanathan Arangath, managing director of the Kochi-based Vasco Environmental India Private Ltd. and also the authorised representative of the Hyderabad-based contractors, Ramky Infrastructure Limited, stated that the company “will force a shut-down of the STP operations within 24 hours,” due to financial constraints.
Mr. Arangath says his letter may be treated as “the final notice for stoppage of the STP with effect from December 2, unless full payment of our invoice-9 worth Rs.1,23,17,949 is deposited to our account today.”
Requests ignored
Mr. Arangath said the TDB and the HPC had been ignoring his repeated requests seeking clearance of the bill after the commissioning of the plant on November 10, 2015. He claimed the plant had been functioning properly.
TDB clarifies
Talking to The Hindu, Devaswom Commissioner C.P. Ramaraja Prema Prasad and G. Muraleekrishnan, Chief Engineer, said the board was not supposed to clear the final bill submitted by the contractor without receiving the completion certificate and inspection report from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board.
Mr. Muraleekrishnan said the PCB and the chief technical examiner had found that the effluent treatment at the STP had not yet achieved the desired standards. He said the PCB was yet to certify it and the board would be able to pay the contractor’s final bill only after following these mandatory procedures.
Commissioner’s reply
Meanwhile, the Devaswom Commissioner, in his reply to the company, stated that the functioning of the STP was being closely monitored by the Kerala High Court and the payment of the final bill would be possible only after ensuring the stabilisation of the plant and proper certification by the PCB.
Mr. Prasad further said “the threatened closure of the plant is grossly unjustifiable and it would cause irreparable loss to the government, TDB and, of course, the environment.”
