Notwithstanding strong resentment over the undue delay in resolving the accumulation of huge quantities of waste water discharged from the fish market in the town, the Municipal authorities are still groping in the dark to address the issue.
The areas surrounding the fish market where both whole sale and retail trade of meat and fish are taking place, is filled with unbearable stench emanating from the accumulated waste water discharged from the crowded market where as many as 40 to 50 truck loads fish and meat are being marketed.
The most affected people, besides the residents around the market, are the rail passengers, who cannot afford to pass through the area without their face covered to escape from the unbearable stench.
The State Human Rights Commission during its visit to the market to assess the situation recently, had issued notice to the municipal authorities to clear the waters from the surround locality through which the road to the railway station is passes through.
But no concrete solution appears to be in sight even as the Municipal authorities pass the buck on an agency for not executing the bio-gas plant to prevent accumulation of the water that poses serious health hazards both in rainy and peak summer season.
The Municipal authorities had dumped truck loads of mud in the waters in its bid to clear the waste after it gets dried up.
Kanhnagad Municipal Vice-Chairman Prabhakaran Vazhunnoradi said the Municipality had entrusted the work of building a biogas plant two years back by the Kerala Agro Industrial Corporation (KAICO) and paid Rs. 12 lakh out of the Rs. 16 lakh estimated for the project.
However, the KAICO is demanding the remaining Rs. four lakh to complete the works, he told the Hindu on Saturday.
The Municipality is also toeing with the idea of setting up an effluent treatment plant with District Planning Board sanctioning Rs. seven lakh for the project, he said.
The only viable solution to address the issue is to shift the wholesale market from the crowded market to elsewhere in the town so as to minimize the water accumulation. However, the proposal was dropped following stiff opposition from a section of traders, he said.
