Kochi Corporation in race against time to complete waste segregation

NGT panel directive to ensure 100% waste segregation

Garbage and plant debris that were cleared from the adjoining canal, at Panampilly Nagar in Kochi

Time seems to be running out for Kochi Corporation to ensure 100% segregation of wastes before taking it to the Brahmapuram dump yard.

The NGT’s State Level Monitoring Committee had asked the representatives of the local body at its meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on May 8 that the directive should be realised within 40 days.

Mayor Soumini Jain informed the committee that action had already been taken to ensure segregation of wastes at source. Log books had been provided to the vehicles carrying waste. Directions were given to modify trucks providing top cover and tank for collecting the leachate, she said.

In their statement before the committee, Abdul Basheer K.A., member of the Vadvucode-Puthencruz panchayat, and Varghese Paul, lawyer for applicants in the original petition on Brahmapuram and connected cases pending before the NGT, pointed out that waste transportation in the city was done in uncovered vehicles, causing spillage of waste and leachate. The leachate from the dumping yard was reaching the nearby Kadambrayar, they said.

The committee proposed that modification in the leachate drain should be scientifically done and temporary leachate treatment plant needed to be made operational immediately. The leachate collected could be taken to the leachate treatment plant on Willingdon Island, it was suggested.

The Kerala Water Authority should assess the sewage generated in the city and its present disposal. It must submit a time-bound action plan for sewage treatment. The corporation should make this request based on the directives issued by the committee.