Corporation opts to burn garbage on streets

Garbage has turned into a baggage that is gnawing at the minds of Thrissur residents. It has been more than a year since the dumping of the city’s garbage at Lalur stopped. As a result, the accumulated filth has reduced the city to a garbage dump because the corporation seems to have gone bankrupt on ideas to find an alternative.

Thrissur city is reeling under an acute water crisis. All wells, ponds and water sources in and around the city have either gone dry or filled up by real estate sharks. There is already a fall in water supply and the situation is bound to deteriorate during summer.

In this grim situation, an interesting success story of rainwater harvesting in Kolazhy, a village in the district, could serve as an inspiration to the Thrissur Corporation. The soil in the village, located just 6 km away from the city, is loamy on the top and has a laterite carpet at the bottom. The average depth of the wells here is nine metres from the ground level.

Corporation has opted for burning of garbage on streets

Sanitation workers with bamboo-brooms and kerosene cans roaming around the city and burning garbage heaps at street corners is a regular scene at nights in Thrissur these days. As garbage removal to Lalur, where the city corporation’s garbage disposal site is located, has been blocked for more than a year due to local people’s opposition, the corporation has opted for the burning of garbage on streets, as an easy solution.

KOCHI: The water bird count conducted at the Kole wetlands of Thrissur has found a significant dip in arrival of birds this year, compared to the last two years.

District Medical Officer warns of an epidemic outbreak

Garbage disposal in the city has been hit for the last 10 days. The corporation had signed a contract with a Salem-based company for removing the city’s garbage. However, garbage removal from the city to Salem got disrupted after residents of Salem protested against dumping the waste there. Protests were also held alleging corruption in the contract. With the disposal of waste hit, piles of garbage have started resurfacing in most parts of the city.

Road near Sakthan Nagar turns into a dumping yard

Though the Thrissur Corporation managed to enter into a contract with a private agency for garbage disposal, the city’s sanitation condition has not improved a bit. The Salem-based company, which removed two loads of waste for one day has not turned up after that. The rotten waste collected from various parts of the city has been heaped on Pattalam Road, located in the heart of the city, for the past one week.

Work on other waste management projects to continue

Garbage in Thrissur city is now being removed by a Salem-based company, amidst accolades and brickbats for the arrangement made by the corporation. Mayor I.P. Paul said that the arrangement would continue for at least three months till the corporation could streamline its projects for decentralised waste management in the city.

District Judge K. P. Jyothindranath who inspected Lalur, the Thrissur Corporation’s waste disposal site, recently has submitted his report to the High Court.

He inspected Lalur under a directive of the High Court that the district judge should review waste treatment in the site every six months. The report suggested that decentralised waste treatment plants should be set up at the earliest. “The processing units for plastic materials and bio-degradable wastes should be established in a large scale. Waste management systems for residents, apartments, hotels, markets and educational institutions should be promoted,” the report said.

Minister for Forests, Sports and Cinema K. B. Ganesh Kumar told the Assembly on Tuesday that the government proposed to take up programmes to regenerate forest cover.

Replying to the debate on the demand for grants for forest, the Minister said that the Department was undertaking regeneration of natural vegetation even in cities under the ‘Vana Deepti’ programme. One such scheme was being taken up in Thrissur town.

‘Move will destabilise efforts at decentralisation of process’

The Thrissur Corporation is planning to employ a private agency to remove the accumulated garbage from the city. According to corporation sources, a Salem-based agency has approached the civic body offering to remove the garbage at a cost of Rs.3 per kg. The company offered to take the un-segregated garbage to its plant at Salem for processing.