KOCHI: The residents of Kadungalloor panchayat, near Aluva, fear their idyllic life could be disrupted with the state government backing the setting up of a waste treatment plant on a two-acre plot there. They are in a desperate battle to get it shifted elsewhere.
“We don’t have any successful examples before us that would assuage our worries. A case in point is the Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant, which is yet to prove its efficiency,” said Mahesh, an environmental activist and resident. He said the plant is expected to convert concrete waste from demolished buildings into tiles.
“But what about all the dust and other pollutants that will be emitted from the plant? This is a serious issue,” Mahesh said. He pointed out the plant is coming up in a residential area.
“Within 200m from the plant, there is a hospital. What will happen to the patients admitted there? The hospital has recently been upgraded to a family health centre (FHC),” he said. According to Sunitha Kumari, the local panchayat member, they were initially told that the plant will be only used to process concrete waste.
“We have now come to know that the plant will be slowly scaled up in phases to also process slaughterhouse waste, hospital waste and e-waste. But just two acres have been earmarked for this huge project, and that too in a residential area,” she said.
Mahesh said the plant will be catering to the waste management needs of municipalities and corporations across the state.
“Anyone ready to pay the requisite fee will be able to dump waste at this plant. So imagine the volume of waste that will be brought in. This is happening at a time when such a waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram has proved a failure. But the state government is not interested in listening to our worries,” he said.
When the residents -- under the aegis of the citizens’ action council -- launched an agitation against the proposed plant, they were told to visit a similar plant functioning in Hyderabad, Sunitha said. “The company that has been entrusted with the plant knows that it is an impractical thing. Imagine a delegation going over to Hyderabad!”
The panchayat member said the plant authorities have cleared the land, and have set up a shed and installed CCTV cameras on the plot. She said she is with the people and will fight for their rights.
“It should be understood that no government can exist without people. The residents will go ahead with further agitations,” Sunitha said.