The Kochi Corporation council on Tuesday refused to accept a proposal to set aside 10 acres at Brahmapuram to dispose of waste generated by the demolition of the four flats at Maradu.
As per a directive from the State Level Appraisal Committee for Solid Waste Management in October last year, the Corporation was required to set aside land for the disposal of debris from the demolition and use the site in future for the construction of a demolition waste processing facility. Opposition leader K.J. Antony raised the question of how the committee had issued such a directive without running it past the Corporation council first, particularly since the civic body was in charge of waste management at Brahmapuram. Mayor Soumini Jain informed the council that she was not included in the committee or the decision made by it. “The land at Brahmapuram belongs to the State government and the Corporation is only a requisitioning agency. The civic body is bound to implement the State-level committee’s directive,” she said. But without the council’s agreement, no action could be taken.
Other matters with regard to waste management at Brahmapuram have not received the council’s nod.
The trommels unit, a sort of filtering mechanism for waste, which currently functions in a dilapidated building, is to be replaced at a cost of around ₹2 crore. The civic body is also in the process of hiring contractors to biomine the legacy waste at the site and set up a leachate treatment plant as per a notice from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board. Opposition members have asked for all decisions pertaining to the plant, some pending with the council for months, to be placed on hold. “A special council meeting is necessary to discuss all aspects of waste management at Brahmapuram rather than a piecemeal approval of funds. If the waste-to-energy plant materialises, the leachate plant will become redundant. To avoid that, the plant would also have to be equipped to deal with sewage. Such technical issues need to be discussed in detail,” said V.P. Chandran, LDF leader.
