THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even while the whole lot of scientists, NGOs and environmentalists are trying to find ways to treat waste at source, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) seems to believe that a centralised solution is the only answer to waste management problems.
The IMA seminar on scientific waste disposal held in the city on Friday saw a very angry Mayor K Chandrika, venting her anger not just on the State Government, but also on the Vilappil panchayat and even the media who, in her opinion, had inflated the issue to gigantic proportions.
Pointing out that pollution is a worldwide phenomenon, the Mayor said that Vilappilsala did not have one-thousandth of a problem that other garbage plants or cities like Kochi, Thrissur or Kozhikode had.
"Yes, there were problems, but given two months more, the leachate plant would have become fully operational and the problem of leachate from the plant would have been completely solved. A leachate plant with a capacity to treat 75 tonnes of leachate would definitely take a little time to be set up,’’ she said.
Chandrika said it was the visionary in K Karunakaran who had decided to buy the 12-acre plot in a most deserted spot at Vilappilsala to function as a dumping yard. "It takes willpower on the part of the state to open the garbage plant at Vilappilsala. Composting waste and burying is not scientific as these doctors would say,’’ she pointed out.
Dr Marthanda Pillai had earlier said that allowing residents to manage their own waste will end up in environmental pollution. The Mayor also expressed concern over the problem of poultry waste being dumped into the canals of the city.
District panchayat president Remani P Nair opined that the root cause was the mismanagement of the waste treatment plant and that a solution should evolve through discussions.
Shashi Tharoor MP, Dr Althaf, Dr Suresh Kumar, Dr Vijayachandran, Dr Sreejith N Kumar, Dr Shanavas and Dr Prasanth C V also spoke at the seminar.