Kerala - Kochi

Agency threatens to halt work at Brahmapuram

KOCHI: The running of the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram may be affected as the Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Corporation (APTDC) that has set up the plant has threatened to stop the operation of the plant from Tuesday.

The APTDC has written to the Kochi Corporation that it will stop receiving garbage at the plant site from Tuesday if the nearly Rs. 3 crore bills are not paid immediately. S. Jyothikumar, Councillor (Technology), of the APTDC had shot off the letter reminding the Corporation of the non-payment of bills on October 5. The agency has stated that payments have to be made for meeting the expenses it incurred for setting up the plant and also for completing the remaining works. The plant will be operated till November 11 and it would be impossible to carry on with the operation any further, the letter said.

Any hitch in the functioning of the plant will have widespread health and environmental implication for the city.

At the same time, Corporation officials stated that they would be releasing Rs. 49 lakh to the APTDC on Tuesday as the health wing of the Corporation had cleared the bill.

The Corporation will never run away from its responsibility of paying the bills due to the APTDC and there is no crisis regarding the movement of garbage, said Mini Antony, Secretary of the Corporation.

All bills due to the APTDC will be settled after completing the verification of works implemented. The civic body is in the process of comparing the works that were implemented with the bills submitted to it by the APTDC. As the Corporation is spending public money, it needs to adopt a cautious step while make the payment, Ms. Antony said.

Moreover, the APTDC needs to complete several works like the setting up the leachate treatment plant, a laboratory for monitoring the environmental parameters and a portion of the green belt at the plant site, she said.

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