The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has decided to invite expressions of interest (EoIs) from firms interested in taking up the total station survey of heaps of legacy (old) waste lying at the Brahmapuram dumping yard of the Kochi Corporation.
The PCB head office in Thiruvananthapuram has directed its Ernakulam regional office to take necessary steps for conducting the survey as part of implementing the directives of the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on swift removal of legacy waste.
The board had earlier sought the advice of the Environment Department for entrusting the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS) with the proposed drone mapping of the solid waste dumping site at Brahmapuram.
It had sought the department’s response to handing over the survey to UL Technology Solutions, a subsidiary of ULCCS. However, the board has now decided to invite EoIs.
The Opposition parties had alleged that the government had failed to go by the due process while awarding projects to ULCCS. The Enforcement Directorate had conducted an inquiry at the ULCCS head office at Vadakara in Kozhikode as part of its probe into the money laundering angle in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case. These developments appeared to have prompted the Environment Department to invite EoIs, according to senior officials.
The total station survey using drones is done to ascertain the exact volume of waste lying at the site. Board officials said the aerial survey using unmanned vehicles would provide high-resolution accurate data. Aerial mapping remains the best option to evolve scientific data on old waste at Brahmapuram.
Drone mapping of the landfill / dumping site must be done prior to bioremediation and biomining. The Central Pollution Control Board has issued guidelines for contour survey as part of its directives on ensuring proper treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste. Drone mapping of heap volumes at different stages is most cost-effective and fast, according to the central board.
