Peringamala: No signs of truce

Thiruvananthapuram: Peringamala panchayat representatives boycotted the first stakeholders’ meeting, convened by district collector, as part of establishing the controversial waste-to-energy plant in the village.
Panchayat vice-president Kunjumon K J said the local body was against the proposal and that they did not want to sit through the presentation. “We had earlier submitted memorandums to agriculture and local self-government department ministers as well as the chief minister expressing our concerns regarding the proposal and requesting o consider another location for the project. We had brought to their notice the consequent environment al hazards. The ministers had agreed to reconsider the plan. Hence the meeting convened by district collector was unwarranted,” he said.

Apart from the vice-president, Riyas A, chairman of welfare standing committee of the panchayat, was also part of the delegation that boycotted the meet. The duo also pointed out that local MLA and district panchayat president were not informed about the meeting. The panchayat also submitted a new memorandum to district collector K Vasuki requesting cancellation of the project.

During the meeting, members of Peringamala action council spoke on the environmental significance of the village and asked to identify an alternative place to establish the waste treatment plant. The committee members also maintained that MC Dathan, scientific advisor to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, shall visit the site and take stock of the situation. They also insisted that a date shall be finalised for the field visit. The committee members threw questions at KSIDC, the implementing agency of the project, and Dathan as to why it never occurred to them to conduct a site visit and understand if the location was suitable for the project.

The authorities, in response, said a high-level team headed by Dathan would visit the project site at Peringamala. KSIDC officials, reiterating the statements minister AC Moithen in the assembly, said that the waste-to-energy plant won’t cause any damage to the river or drinking water projects and that the plant would be completely insulated and neither the solid waste nor any by- product would be released into the surroundings. They also promised that solid waste would be transported in fully-covered compactors and won’t be stored in the open.