Peringamala residents’ fight against waste-to-energy plant gains more support

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chief Ministers V S Achuthanandan and Oommen Chandy have extended their support to the protest by Peringamala residents against the proposed waste-to-energy plant in their region. 

On Tuesday, poet and environmentalist Sugathakumari and former Deputy speaker Palode Ravi also expressed solidarity during the protest meet held in front of the secretariat.
“This is a protest to protect the entire state,” said Anil Kumar, Western Ghats Coordination Committee chairman, addressing the gathering.

“This protest is aimed not just to oppose the installation of the waste plant in Peringamala but also an effort to protect and preserve our Western Ghats,” said Saji Pallivila, protest committee general convenor and panchayat member. “The Gadgil Committee report said the Western Ghats was necessary for Kerala to sustain after the flood. But we see that no proper research is conducted till date to study the ecological impacts and effects of such a plant on the atmosphere and water of the area.”

According to him, implementation of the plant would adversely affect 38 drinking water projects in the area. The slurry from the waste plant, if released to the Chittar river, could ruin an important source of water for residents.

“It is also likely to pollute the Vamanapuram river. The release of smoke from the plant will also harm the atmosphere. Other problems include proliferation of disease-causing mosquitoes and flies leading to a variety of diseases, threats to tourism in the area, as well as dangerous for the entire ecology of western ghats,” he said.

“The plant is dangerous and life-threatening. It is our duty to protect the mountains, forests, wildlife and the human beings. We will not allow this in our place at any cost. We are ready to fight till death to protect our environment,” said Latha Kumari, a nursing assistant at Peringamala. 

“All have the right to live on this earth. Conflict with wildlife has made it difficult for us Adivasis to live comfortably. Our drinking water is also under threat. Therefore, we need to protect our ecosystem at any cost and we are ready to fight till our last breath,” said Sreelatha Sivanandan, a resident of Adivasi settlement at Peringamala.

The plant is proposed to be built on a 15-acre plot belonging to the District agro farm. Residents fear their agriculture system would fail if the plant is erected. “We believe that this is done according to the interest of some people looking for financial gain. The proposed plant costs `390 crore. So imagine the profit for seven such plants. Also there are various documents that we did not receive even through RTI. They could have easily installed a decentralised waste  treatment plant as done in Nedumangad, Attingal etc,” said Saji.“The monotype trees, exotic/foreign trees which were planted by destroying the natural forest in the Western Ghats have already created human-wildlife conflict. Adivasis find it difficult to collect forest products due to attacks from wild boars and elephants,” said Sajin.

The government has not taken any action to address the issues raised by the protesters, they said. The residents of Peringammala have been protesting for the past one year near the agro farm, where the plant was proposed to be installed, to no avail. On December 5, they also organised a Sad march (sangada jatha), walking for three days from Peringamala to the legislative assembly. Similar marches were held from Perumanthura to Peringamala, Chaanangara to Pangode and towards the Panchayat office over the last one year. Despite this, the government has turned a blind eye towards the issue.

A stakeholders’ meeting held in the Collectors chamber in the presence of the then collector K Vasuki, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his scientific advisor M C Dattan had promised to go forward with the project only after conducting detailed study. The protesters said they would approach the Green Tribunal and the High Court if a favourable response was not received. 

The UDF, Shastra Sahitya Parishad, Western Ghats Biodiversity Protection Committee, Green walk, cultural organisations such as Janapaksham, Adivasi Mahasabha etc have declared their support to the campaign.