Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is not under any political or administrative pressure to delay the imposition of environment compensation on Kochi Corporation and five municipalities in Ernakulam, according to Chairman Ajit Haridas.
“We will proceed with all necessary legal action to enforce Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. But we cannot set any time limit to initiate the action,” he told The Hindu, when asked why the board was soft-pedalling on slapping environment compensation on the Kochi Corporation and Aluva, Angamaly, Thrikkakara, Thripunithura and Maradu municipalities. The Board members had passed a no-confidence motion against the chairman for imposing a penalty of ₹14.5 crore on the CPI(M)-ruled Thiruvananthapuram Corporation before the bypoll held in Vattiyoorkavu.
KSPCB had issued notices on October 12 last year under Section 5 of the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 to Kochi Corporation and six civic bodies, including Kalamassery municipality, asking why environment compensation should not be recovered for not providing bio-methanation plant for the food waste generated in the civic bodies.
The civic bodies were given 15 days for submitting its reply to the notices issued by KSPCB. It had imposed penalty of ₹2.47 crore on Kalamassery municipality alone as a follow-up action while the proceedings against the rest were pending for the last two-and-a-half months.
The board’s regional office in Ernakulam had submitted a report in which it had assessed an environment compensation of ₹10.05 crore on Kochi corporation for its failure to comply with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, at its Brahmapuram facility. The assessment period was from April 9, 2019 to October-end.
However, KSPCB issued an environment compensation of ₹1.2 crore on the civic body in December for its failure to set up a leachate treatment facility at Brahmapuram.
Treating food waste
Mr. Haridas said the Board would proceed with the process of recovering environment compensation from the erring civic bodies in Ernakulam, if they failed to install anaerobic digester to treat food waste. The civic bodies were told to submit a detailed action plan explaining the steps to be taken for treatment of food waste. If the reply was not satisfactory, the Board would definitely proceed against the civic bodies, he said.
The chairman said that setting up an anaerobic digester at Brahmapuram was essential, considering the huge quantities of food waste reaching the site.
“The Corporation has to set up an anaerobic digester despite the proposal to have a waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram. The new facility will not be able to treat such huge quantities of legacy waste lying there,” he said.
