KOCHI: The fire at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant that left Kochi gasping for days was close to being brought under control by Sunday evening. However, like the smoke that kept billowing from the smouldering heaps, a question hangs in the air: Who is responsible for the incident?
On Sunday, a high-level meeting was attended by three ministers at the collectorate took stock of the situation. Short-term and long-term solutions to equip the administration to deal with such fires in future were suggested.
However, fixing accountability for the current crisis was not on agenda. After the meeting, P Rajeeve, the minister in charge of Ernakulam district, told reporters the fire would be fully contained by evening.
“Officials are using two large dewatering pumpsets to pump water from Kadambrayar river to the site of the fire at Brahmapuram. The water is being pumped after cleaning the river using a floating JCB, and 32 fire engines are being used to douse the flames.Additional portable pumps will be deployed,” Rajeeve said.
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Rajeeve said if there are issues with the water from the Kadambrayar, water from the lake of FACT, a public sector undertaking nearby, will be used. On their part, the police and the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) have swung into action. The police registered a case and launched a probe into the fire. City police commissioner K Sethu Raman, asked by the chief secretary to submit a report on the circumstances that led to the fire, visited the Brahmapuram dumpyard.
Meanwhile, KSPCB has decided to take steps to prosecute Kochi corporation. It has already slapped a show-cause notice on the civic body, asking it to pay `1.8 crore as penalty for not adhering to Solid Waste Management Rules. “KSPCB decided to prosecute the corporation as merely imposing a penalty was deemed insufficient to get things done. The civic body has failed to follow solid waste disposal rules, which is why such incidents have been reported frequently at Brahmapuram,” said Baburajan P K, chief environmental engineer, KSPCB-Ernakulam.
Still no word on who should take the responsibility for the hazard. Sridhar R, former programme director of Thanal, an NGO, said Kerala cannot keep reiterating its numero uno status among states with such miserably managed urban waste in Kochi. Cities like Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha have eliminated their dumping yards or set up centralised landfills, and are on the path to a zero-waste inspired decentralised system, thanks to the efforts of Thanal, Suchitwa Mission and Harita Karma Sena, and the leadership of former Thiruvananthapuram mayor V K Prasanth former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac and former Thiruvananthapuram collector K Vasuki, he said in a tweet, adding the following.
“In Kochi, all we hear is filthy political exchange of blame.” S Gopakumar, an architect and president of Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG), said he had written to the chief secretary on February 15, bringing to his attention the worsening waste management crisis in the district. “Without the involvement of public and public institutions, such as chambers of commerce, tourism, BKRG, and others, the issue cannot be tackled,” he said, adding that despite signs that a dangerous situation was forming none took the initiative to address it. “It’s a mess. Fire tenders could not enter the area as there was no proper road access,” he said.
Road to be made accessible
Once the ongoing fire issue is resolved, Kochi corporation will make the road to Brahmapuram waste plant more accessible as early as possible, Rajeeve said. “A temporary solution will be found to resume waste collection that was stalled for the past three to four days. The district collector will take necessary steps based on the corporation’s recommendations,” he said.