With urban and rural areas grappling with the problem of garbage, the district administration has chalked out plans with three-tier local bodies for the safe disposal of solid and liquid waste in Kozhikode.
Initially, the Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) would ask the three-tier local bodies, Kozhikode Corporation and municipalities in the district to set up a sewage treatment plant (STP) at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital, District Collector U.V. Jose told the media.
At a meeting held at the corporation on Thursday, LSGD Principal Secretary T.K. Jose said the State government would issue directives, enabling the local bodies to mobilise funds for this purpose. At present the medical college that caters to the entire district and neighbouring districts is facing acute financial crunch. Local bodies should come forward to financially support the STP project, he said.
The Collector said that steps would be taken to implement a scheme under the Amrut Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), a flagship programme of the Union Ministry of Urban Development, aimed at providing basic civic amenities in cities. The district administration had plans to prepare a comprehensive package for solid and liquid waste management, Mr. Jose said.
Setting up of STP plants would solve sanitation problems in urban areas to a great extent. A viable STP project could be established in 15-30 cents of land even under the Public-Private Partnership model. A plant was set up under the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project at a cost of ₹4 crore for Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram in 2012. Such a project could be set up in Kozhikode as well, the Collector said.
Mr. Jose said that a project to set up an STP near Canoli canal was pending before the National Green Tribunal. The Irrigation Department had submitted a ₹1,200- crore project when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kozhikode. But now the priority was to carry out a survey of the 11.5-km canal, he said.