Kerala engineering students visit site for biomedical plant in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the early hours of Thursday, five students of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram peddled their way from their college. Their target was ‘Oduchutapaduka’ at Peringamala grama panchayat where the controversial IMA biomedical waste treatment plant is proposed to be set up. The journey was long and arduous. Only two of them made it to Oduchutapaduka where they traversed the whole of the biodiversity haven. 

The team of two budding engineers had journeyed to the place to learn about the place and spent time till evening interacting with the natives, understanding the biodiversity wealth of the land. “I studied the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared. There was nothing innovative in the DPR. The negative impact that the plant could pose to the ecology cannot be ascertained! It is that huge and the repercussions will be manifold,” said Gopikrishnan S, a third-year civil engineering student at the college. “Moreover, the presence of the rare Myristica swamps and waterbodies in the region emphasise the need to conserve the place. Even the clay content in the soil is high which makes any construction activities in the region expensive and inadvisable,” said the young engineering student.

The trip was undertaken by Gopikrishnan and second-year mechanical engineering student Vaisakh S.
The visit was part of the larger aim of students which is to make the future engineers aware of the need to be environmentally sensitive. The trip was taken up by the members of the CET Cycling Club which is an initiative of the Engineers’ Crew for Society and Environment (ENCRESE) of the college.The vision is to sensitise the engineers about the environment and uphold the values of engineering ethics.

“If I were to prepare an EIA, it would be on how to conserve the region and not on how to build any project there,” said Gopikrishnan. The students aim to arrange a trip for the M-Tech civil engineering students of the college to the region. “They are the lot who will have to craft EIAs in future. And the trip will be helpful for them and it will sensitise them about the environment,” he added. 
As engineers, they also intend to conduct awareness sessions for the people in the region. The sessions will delve into how the plant could be a disaster from an engineer’s point of view.

“Whenever we decide on doing a project, the study has to be conducted first before buying the land. The process we follow here is so wrong. We should first study the land and prepare a detailed report on whether the land is ideal for the designated purpose before buying it,” he added. The students intend to prepare a report on their visit and then share the information with their college mates. “We aren’t saying that we can shrug away from the responsibility of setting up a biomedical waste treatment plant. But Oduchutapaduka isn’t the site for that. It is a lush land rich in biodiversity. We could spot the footprints of Gaur and scats of Sambar deer. It is a region frequented by many animals and the IMA plant could topple the biodiversity wealth of the land,” he added.

The IMA’s plan to set up its biowaste management plant in 3 acres of the 9-acre land it owns near the forest had faced stiff opposition. The proposed site falls in the Peringamala grama panchayat which has been designated as ecologically sensitive by the Kasthurirangan Committee report and is hemmed in by forests on three sides. Earlier the Forest Department had recommended against the project. The  Peringamala grama panchayat had passed a resolution against the project. Sheds have been set up at Elavupalam junction and Oduchutapaduka,  where the locals are staging a protest.