Date:28/11/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/11/28/stories/2005112819840100.htm

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Corporation faces threat of renewed stir

By T. Nandakumar

Vilappil grama panchayat refuses to renew licence for garbage treatment plant

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation is bracing itself for a political confrontation with the neighbouring Vilappil grama panchayat, amid the threat of a renewed mass agitation against the garbage treatment plant on the suburbs. The panchayat has not renewed the licence for the project and the local action council is threatening to oppose the move to set up an engineered sanitary landfill near the project site.

Civic officials fear that the unfavourable political climate in the Vilappil panchayat would make things difficult for the Corporation. They point out that the dormant action council had reared its head after the new UDF- dominated panchayat committee assumed office following the local body elections.

"There are strong indications that the sensitive issue will be used as a political weapon to stir up passions, especially in the light of the forthcoming Assembly elections," says an LDF leader. With just five members in the 17-member panchayat committee, the LDF finds itself at a disadvantage. "The political arithmetic in the committee has made things doubly difficult in running the plant smoothly. Even with a majority, we could not renew the licence for the project since 2003," he said.

Meanwhile, the Health standing committee of the Corporation is working on a proposal to remove the bottlenecks in the transport of garbage to the treatment plant and streamline the disposal system. The project involves rescheduling the transportation system and constructing the landfill.

Health standing committee chairman G.R. Anil said the restriction on daytime transport of garbage to the plant was a major hurdle. "Ever since the High Court ordered the Corporation to close down the five dumping yards in the city, we have been using the fleet of 20 garbage trucks as mobile storage units to stock the day's collection. The work of loading the previous day's garbage onto trucks begins at 6 a.m. By 10 a.m., all the 20 trucks are full. The loaded vehicles are parked near the collection points till nightfall when they start moving to Vilappilsala," he explains. Health officials point out that the curbs on daytime transport are irrelevant in the present situation.