CPI local leaders forced to have a rethink

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 18. The action council against the City Corporation's garbage processing plant at Vilappilsala is preparing to intensify its agitation against the project even as the threat of a crackdown by the CPI district leadership appears to have forced the party's local committee to rethink its support to the stir.

The popular agitation against the garbage plant had slowed down after the police action early last month which resulted in the arrest and subsequent remand of 22 protestors. The action council is meeting this Thursday to chalk out a programme. Council leaders said a women's march would be organised shortly. They assert that local people are willing to court arrest.

The Vilappil villagers are up in arms against the reported environmental pollution and public health problems created by the plant. The LDF-held Vilappil panchayat had adopted a resolution last year demanding relocation of the garbage plant.

Concerned over the possibility of the agitation snowballing into an anti-Government movement, the CPI district committee is understood to be pressurising the party's local committee to withdraw support to the stir. The Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Mayor and CPI leader, Mr. Sujanapriyan, had warned that the district leadership of the party would be forced to take action against the local leaders if they continued to support the protest. The panchayat president, Ms. Sujatha Johnny of the CPI, is the chairperson of the action council.

The CPI district leadership is reportedly concerned over the political fallout of the agitation and its impact on the Assembly election results. Local leaders said they had received instructions from the district committee to withdraw support to the stir or face disciplinary action. To avoid loss of face, the local leaders have been permitted to carry on the stir after disassociating themselves from the action council.

The party local committee which met the other day however opposed the suggestion. The committee fears that any move to delink from the popular agitation would leave it isolated. Many local committee members expressed the opinion that sabotaging the agitation at this stage would jeopardise their political credibility and ruin their political career.

Besides, they fear that the BJP and Congress would take advantage of the situation to run down the LDF and reap electoral gains. The local committee is reported to be considering the resignation of the two ward members, Ms. Sujatha Johnny and Mr. Radhakrishnan. The local committee will meet shortly to discuss their participation in the action council meeting on February 22.

On the other hand, the CPI(M) local committee has adopted a wary attitude to the agitation right from the start though the party's ward members had supported the panchayat resolution demanding relocation of the garbage plant.

Meanwhile, the Corporation claims that it is taking all possible steps to minimise the pollution problems at the plant. Corporation authorities maintain that all problems relating to the garbage plant would be resolved with the acquisition of an additional 17 acres of land. However, local people fear that the land acquisition move is a ploy to convert the plant into a dumping yard.

The monitoring committee headed by the District Collector which is supposed to overlook the functioning of the plant and enforce environmental safeguards is yet to convene, despite repeated assurances from the Mayor. Following the Government's failure to sanction the purchase of 15 garbage trucks, the Corporation is now considering a proposal to invite tenders for transportation of garbage from the collection centres in the city to the plant.

A preliminary study conducted by the technology suppliers to the plant a few months back had traced the pollution problems at the village to the lapses on the part of the Corporation. It revealed that the Corporation had bypassed a key component in the handling process by failing to sanitise the waste at points of generation and collection to suppress odour and stifle pathogens.

The Corporation claims that it has ordered fresh stocks of biological innoculum and set up a special squad to supervise sanitisation of the garbage before transportation. Officials maintain that all the guidelines prescribed by the technology suppliers were being meticulously followed. But villagers assert that the situation has not improved.

The action council has moved the High Court demanding relocation of the Rs. 9-crore plant which was set up as a joint venture between the Corporation and a private partner. Leaders of the council allege that the plant operators and the Corporation were foisting false cases on the villagers in a bid to suppress the agitation.

The plant is currently receiving about 100 tonnes of garbage as against the daily requirement of 300 tonnes. A team of experts from the Excel Technology group is providing full time assistance in streamlining the functioning of the project.

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Section  : Southern States
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