THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A tactful Corporation, a stubborn panchayat and an unyielding group of locals - where do any sort of mediation fit in? The second meeting of the sub-committee formed by the Mediation Committee of the High Court on Monday remained inconclusive yet again. With each party reiterating its stand in the meeting, the Vilappilsala imbroglio refuses to crack.
It was almost a repeat of the last time, where the Corporation requested the panchayat and locals to allow it to carry out the pending works at the waste treatment plant and where the latter reiterated that no garbage trucks shall enter the village again.
‘’We felt that there was a hidden pressure to make us agree to drop our claim to the plant and the activities going on there,’’ Mayor K Chandrika said. Interestingly, Vilappil Panchayat president Shobhana Kumari also shared her thought on how the Corporation was forcing them to abide by the latter’s plans to allow carrying out the construction activities in the plant.
‘’They want us to be the subdued ones, but I think the panchayat president has the same power as that of Corporation Mayor,’’ Shobhana Kumari said.
The Janakeeya Samithi is also learnt to have repeated its demand that the Corporation must agree to not send any more garbage trucks to the village. To which the Corporation officials could not agree as they have already spent huge amounts on the plant.
There were no decisions with regard to any awareness programme in the village which was discussed by the previous meeting. The Mediation Committee will meet on April 4 at Kochi, where the sub-committee will submit its report. The 18-member sub-committee is being headed by the Director of Sanitation Mission. However, with the meetings remaining a mere farce, the sub-committee has barely anything to recommend.