The City Corporation got a three-month breather in its protracted spat with the residents of Vilappil panchayat on Tuesday when the Janakeeya Samithi, spearheading the agitation against the solid waste treatment plant in the suburban village, agreed to suspend the blockade of garbage trucks till December 20.
The agreement was reached at a conciliatory meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Minister for Urban Affairs P.K. Kunhalikutty, MLAs K. Muraleedharan and V. Sivankutty, and representatives of the Corporation, the panchayat and the samithi were present.
The meeting decided to constitute a committee to monitor the progress of the ongoing work on a leachate treatment plant and engineered sanitary landfill at the project site. The committee includes sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman, who acted as a mediator, and representatives of the Suchitwa Mission, the panchayat, and the samithi.
While the government sought a six-month period to resolve the environmental and health problems associated with the plant, samithi leaders maintained that it would be impossible to bear the burden any more. They finally gave in to pressure and settled to a three-month period.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, samithi leaders C.S. Anil and S. Burhan said the strike would continue till the plant was shut down. “We are only lifting the blockade of garbage trucks.” They said the samithi would nominate its members to the monitoring committee.
In his address, Mr. Kunhalikutty said the government was assuming responsibility for the smooth operation of the plant. “The Corporation has taken steps to alleviate the problems faced by residents in the neighbourhood of the plant. Despite the steps taken to ensure environmental safeguards and to minimise the quantum of garbage reaching the plant, things have gone out of hand,” he said.
The Minister said the Suchitwa Mission had been asked to implement short-term solutions like diverting the leachate to storage tanks.
