Garbage to be transported to Vilappilsala from Feb 13: Mayor

City mayor K. Chandrika said here on Saturday that the Corporation will resume transporting garbage to Vilappilsala solid waste treatment plant from February 13.

Ms Chandrika said that the Corporation will first process the accumulated un-treated garbage inside the plant before resuming collection and transportation of garbage from the city.

On Saturday the Vilappilsala plant, which was closed down by the Vilappil panchayat more than a month ago, was re-opened by the Corporation. The civic body had received an interim order from High Court last month to reopen the plant until an alternative arrangement was made to process garbage collected from the city. The HC also directed the state government to provide police protection to Corporation workers for re-opening and transporting garbage to the plant.

“We are merely complying with the Court order. As per the order the Corporation has to first process the accumulated garbage and mobilise workers for the construction works going on inside the plant before re-starting garbage collection and transportation from the city. The HC order makes it very clear that the Vilappilsala plant must be re-opened until an alternative arrangement was made for treating waste collected from the city,’’ Ms Chandrika said.

The mayor added that she had held discussions with top police officials on Friday to provide police protection for re-opening and running the plant as per the HC order. ``We are confident that we will be able to transport garbage to the plant with police protection from February 13. If the police or state government fails to help us in carrying out our duties it will be a clear case of contempt of court,’’ Ms Chandrika said.

Meanwhile, Vilappil panchayat president Shobhana Kumari said that the panchayat had not received any official communication regarding the re-opening of the plant.

“We only came to know about it from the people after police reached there. The panchayat respects the HC decision. For the same reason we will not oppose this move. However if the Corporation tries to bring garbage collected from the city to the plant the people of Vilappil will oppose it and the panchayat will only take a stand favouring the people,’’ Ms Shobhana Kumari said.

Vilappilsala Janakeeya Samithi convenor S. Burhan reiterated that the Samithi will oppose any move the transport garbage from the city to the plant.

“We are firm on our stand. We will not allow a single garbage truck to enter the Vilappilsala plant,’’ he said.