The Kalamassery Municipality has not made much progress in the proper disposal of heaps of legacy (old) waste lying at its dumping yard in North Kalamassery after a major fire outbreak at the site on January 18.
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The State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) on Solid Waste appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had termed the waste collection and disposal system of the civic body as “unscientific” based on a personal inspection made by SLMC Chairman A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai.
The committee had asked the authorities to take immediate steps to remove the old waste and initiate measures to implement directives issued as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
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A.K. Nishad, chairman of the municipality’s health standing committee, said that steps had been taken in compliance with the directives of the committee. Around 477 tonnes of waste were removed before the fire outbreak on January 18 as per an agreement with Clean Kerala Company, he said.
However, officials of the government agency clarified that they had not collected the reject dumped at the site. The municipality has not yet released around ₹56 lakh due towards disposal of nearly 477 tonnes of waste in December, they said.
The district office of Clean Kerala Company had written to the municipal authorities seeking clarity on the actual quantity of legacy waste lying at the yard.
“According to the agreement, we need to segregate and transport recyclable waste brought to the site. Clean Kerala Company has not removed old waste after the January 18 fire, as it does not come under the purview of the agreement. Moreover, the engineering wing of the municipality has not yet assessed the exact quantity of old waste,” it said.