Special council meet discusses waste woes in Thiruvananthapuram

She said that corrective measures will be taken to make the initiative more sustainable.
Image used for representational purposes only.
Image used for representational purposes only. (Express Illustration)
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The special council meeting held on Wednesday to discuss waste management issues and illegal dumping of waste in Tamil Nadu turned stormy over the absence of BJP district president and Poojappura ward councillor V V Rajesh from council meetings. Heated arguments were exchanged between LDF and BJP members when LDF parliamentary party leader and deputy mayor D R Anil pointed out that, despite submitting a signed letter for a special council meeting, V V Rajesh was not present.

Mayor Arya Rajendran accused V V Rajesh of irresponsibility and lack of commitment towards people. She alleged that Rajesh has been skipping council meetings for a long time and attends only one out of every three council meetings.

The arguments happened when the issues of frequent seizure of vehicles transporting waste illegally to Tamil Nadu were brought up for discussion. The state capital generates around 423 tonnes of waste daily, out of which only 234.5 tonnes of waste are scientifically processed. The opposition demanded clarity on what happens to the remaining waste. The opposition alleged that the source-level waste management projects implemented previously had miserably failed and that there is widespread corruption in the project.

In the last council also, the opposition objected to the decision of the ruling council to give the contract to the same tainted company involved in the failed project for implementing the biocomposter project. The opposition also hurled corruption allegations at the ruling council for giving monopoly for a single service provider involved in the illegal dumping of medical waste in Tamil Nadu. The BJP councillors alleged that the district doesn’t have that many pig farms to handle the food waste generated in the state capital.

In response to the allegations, health standing committee chairperson Gayathri Babu said that the shortcomings in the management of kitchen bins will be addressed. She said that corrective measures will be taken to make the initiative more sustainable.

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