The agitation against the proposed move of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to establish a biomedical waste treatment plant near Palode has begun to gather momentum.
The launch of an indefinite agitation at the site of the proposed project at Thannimoodu by the action council, constituted under the aegis of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Conservation Forum, on Monday was marked by several of the local tribal people extending their support towards the movement.
A parallel demonstration is also underway at the Elavupalam junction, only a short distance away.
Despite the IMA reportedly expressing its willingness to shift the project to an alternate site, if the need arose, the protesters have resolved to continue their agitation until the State government made an official declaration to abandon the move.
Inaugurating the protest, former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran called for adopting a decentralised system for processing various types of wastes including kitchen, household, biomedical, plastic wastes and e-wastes in the State.
Efforts must be made to dispose waste materials at source or process them in uninhabited areas, he added.
Waste management
Mr. Sudheeran said that the government must formulate a policy for waste management after holding detailed consultations with field experts, scientists, people’s representatives and the general public. He also appealed to the IMA, which has strived to ensure the good health of the public, to withdraw from its move to establish the plant in the region.
Meanwhile, the biodiversity management committee (BMC) under the Peringamala grama panchayat is gearing up to pass a resolution against the implementation of the project in the ecologically-fragile region.
According to M. Kamarudeen, coordinator of the BMC, the statutory body has been entrusted with the responsibility of conserving and ensuring the sustainable utilisation of natural resources in the region under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
“Under no circumstances can the project be allowed to be implemented in the biodiversity hotspot that is home to several rare flora and fauna,” Dr. Kamarudeen said.
