Government land to turn landfills

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With no immediate solution in sight, the State Government has decided to offer government land at ward-level for waste disposal. Garbage will be land-filled there, Urban Affairs Minister PK Kunhalikutty has said.This follows the failure of the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday to resolve the garbage crisis in the city. The meeting failed to resolve the issue as the Vilappil panchayat refused to grant the three months’ time demanded by the government. The panchayat committee officials raised a ruckus in the meeting over the alleged remark by the Mayor that they were being egged on by a mafia to close down the factory."Tender an apology and we shall discuss the issue further,’’ was the stand of the panchayat.A calm CM in the chair or the presence of senior party leaders did not deter the UDF panchayat members from outrightly refusing to reach a consensus and they walked out."We will not allow garbage trucks into the land one single day more. The garbage treatment plant has been closed and we will not open it,’’ a stubborn president of the Vilapil panchayat, Shobhana Kumari, said to the reporters outside.Later, briefing the media, Kunhalikutty said that the garbage would be landfilled in government land. "We asked for three months’ time, but they did not seem to agree,’’ he said.The meeting decided to appoint a core committee headed by Transport Minister V S Sivakumar to monitor the garbage disposal in the city. The representatives of the political parties have been asked to reach a consensus and make their cadres respect the decision.With the imbroglio continuing and the discussions having failed, the Corporation has been pushed into a bigger crisis. While the Corporation officials make it clear that the Kudumbashree women would not come to collect garbage since they do not have a mechanism in Vilappilsala, they are afraid that dumping waste in government land would add to the woes."Tomorrow, they would start dumping it anywhere. Who knows which is private and government land? It is like giving nod to throw waste outside,’’ said a Corporation official.