Date:13/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/13/stories/2008101361050300.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Council to consider entrusting Kudumbasree with waste collection

Staff Reporter

Six major proposals under consideration
Incinerator and leachet treatment plant under study

KOCHI: Six major projects aimed at making Kochi one of the few Indian cities with comprehensive refuse treatment facilities will come up for consideration before the Corporation Council on Tuesday.

The special council will consider the project proposals for Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Plastic Recycling units and the proposals for floating Expression of Interests (EoI) for an incinerator and a leachet treatment plant.

It will also consider a suggestion from the Kudumbasree Mission to entrust the door-to-door collection of waste in the city to the Kudumbasree units. All these projects are implemented in the city with the support of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The expert committee appointed by the corporation authorities had cleared the proposals of two firms for the RDF and the Plastic Recycling plants. The work order for these plants can be given only after the corporation Council giving its approval.

The council will consider the suggestion for floating the EoI for the incinerator unit where all the hazardous waste could be treated including the bio-medical waste.

At present, there is no centralised system or scientific management of the biomedical waste in the city and a large number of the city hospitals are relying on a unit set up at Palakkad for treating their refuse. The incinerator will be set up at the Brahmapuram plant site of the Corporation.

The leachet treatment plant will also come up at Brahmapuram. Here, the leachet from the plant will be treated to generate pure water. The project will curb to a considerable extent, the local resistance against the plant. Though the plant authorities and the civic administration had been maintaining that the leachet from the plant will not be released to the nearby waterbody, the local residents are far from convinced.

The Kudumbasree Mission has sought the permission of the Kochi Corporation to entrust the job of door-to-door collection of garbage from the city areas with the Kudumbasree units.

The proposal will be relevant to most of the city areas and also places in West Kochi and a major portion of the city suburbs where the residents are still finding it difficult to manage the refuse. The Kudumbasree Mission director has also offered to directly monitor the implementation of the proposal.