THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special squad under the City Corporation has seized a vehicle involved in the illegal collection and disposal of septage waste in the state capital. The vehicle was compounded after it disposed of septage collected from Uday Suites Hostel into a drain near Vellar around midnight on Saturday.
According to civic authorities, the vehicle - registered under the name of Uday Sky Kitchen- has been operating by falsely claiming to be registered with the city corporation. According to officials, the vehicle has been conducting such activities for the past few days.
The squad identified the illegal operations of the vehicle during a GPS check of licensed septage vehicles. Following directions from the civic body, the squad conducted an on-site inspection and compounded the vehicle. The civic body will be handing over the vehicle to the district collector after completion of legal procedures.
Currently, the civic body has established a system in place where residents can avail the septage removal services by paying a fee through Smart Trivandrum mobile application or the website. A licensed vehicle will collect the waste at the scheduled time.
There are 36 tankers deployed for the service. The civic body has also granted permission for hotels and establishments to have their own septage collection vehicles, which are permitted to operate under the same system, transporting the waste to Muttathara STP for processing after paying a specified fee to the corporation.
According to a release issued by the civic body, the vehicle caught in this incident was registered under this system but was found to be illegally collecting waste from its own establishment and attempting to dump it into a drain.
When the municipal squad apprehended the vehicle, the operators tried to claim that it was a registered and licensed vehicle, but further inspection revealed that it was operating without a digital pass from the online system and was dumping the waste in a drain instead of transporting it to Muttathara.