Thiruvananthapuram corporation health panel conducts surprise raids at pig farms

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of mounting complaints of irregularities in the transportation of waste to pig farms in the neighbouring panchayats and border areas, the health standing committee of the city corporation did a surprise check on around 40 pig farms on Wednesday. The inspection revealed that some of the ‘pig farms’ did not even have any animals while others, having come to know about the raid, managed to present some pigs before the inspection team.
Jameela Sreedharan, chairperson of the health standing committee, who led the raid in the early morning hours, said that those farms which were found to have misrepresented facts and produced fake documents will be blacklisted. “We will compile a detailed report following the raid. Many of the farmers who genuinely make a living by raising pigs had approached us with complaints that food waste being transported by the agencies seldom reached them,” she said.
The city corporation had earlier entrusted collection of food waste in certain wards with a group of agencies who ran pig farms. These agencies were also allowed to collect user fee from the public for collecting the waste.
Later an expression of interest was invited for the transportation of food waste and only 10 agencies met with the conditions set by the corporation. Following requests raised by another group, the corporation further relaxed the conditions and shortlisted around 40 agencies. This led to a legal tussle with one group approaching the court. The corporation now has to present a statement of facts in the court related to the case.
There have been complaints from neighbouring panchayats that some of the agencies which collected waste from the corporation limits dumped it on road sides instead of transporting that to the pig farms.
In 2019, the health wing of the city corporation had completed a preliminary survey on the waste being generated and transported in massive quantities from the city to pig farms and poultry farms. As per the survey, approximately 100 tons of wastes were transported on a daily basis to 26 pig farms mainly in the border areas of Tamil Nadu and places like Koodamkulam, Ayur, Anchal and Kattakada. The civic body had planned to introduce an agreement based system and booking facility for bulk waste transportation.
RTI data in 2022 showed that only 18 pig farms in the district had received consent to operate from the state pollution control board in the district in the past seven years. Vilappil panchayat issued closure notices to 11 pig farms in 2022. The panchayat authorities said that none of these farms had any license issued by the panchayat or PCB’s consent.
The city corporation had furnished a document enlisting the agencies entrusted by the civic body for the collection of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste in the city. A total of 18 agencies were enlisted in the document presented in the assembly.