No clean chit to corporation on Brahmapuram\, says panel

Koch

No clean chit to corporation on Brahmapuram, says panel

Trendsetter: Members of the National Green Tribunal’s Regional Monitoring Committee (South) on Solid Waste Management inspecting the processing of biodegradable waste at a facility set up by the CREDAI Clean City Movement at an apartment complex near Marine Drive on Friday.

Trendsetter: Members of the National Green Tribunal’s Regional Monitoring Committee (South) on Solid Waste Management inspecting the processing of biodegradable waste at a facility set up by the CREDAI Clean City Movement at an apartment complex near Marine Drive on Friday.   | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

more-in

Committee to submit report on treatment plant to National Green Tribunal soon

The National Green Tribunal’s Regional Monitoring Committee (South) on Solid Waste Management on Friday said it had not given a clean chit to the Kochi Corporation on treatment of leachate emanating from its solid waste treatment and disposal facility at Brahmapuram.

“We have not given a clean chit. Lots of things have to done [there],” said P. Jyothimani, chairman of the Regional Monitoring Committee for South, responding to a specific question from reporters after the fifth meeting of the committee here on Friday. He said the committee would submit its report on the Brahmapuram treatment plant to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) soon.

The regional committee, which had visited the Brahmapuram site on Thursday, had expressed satisfaction over its functioning. The inspection was part of monitoring by the committee after the NGT’s Principal Bench had slapped ₹1-crore penalty on the civic body in October last “for delay and indifference to carrying out solid waste treatment in accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016.”

Mr. Jyothimani said the waste management process had to ultimately result in 100% door-to-door collection of waste and its proper treatment. “The segregation of waste at the household level is important,” he added.

Urging the government and civic body officials to take the local population in and around the Brahmapuram plant into confidence, Mr. Jyothimani said the result of initiatives taken should be explained to them. “You have to inform them [people] that the odour from the Brahmapuram plant will be restricted and assure them that their livelihood will not be affected,” he said.

The committee suggested that officials of local bodies visit the Sembakkam lake in Tamil Nadu, which had turned into a municipal solid waste dumpyard, to study its restoration through bio-mining.

In her presentation, A.S. Anuja, Secretary, Kochi Corporation, said a semi-permanent leachate treatment system would be in place at Brahmapuram by March 15. There is a plan to set up a fully-functional plant before June 15, she said.

Next Story