KOCHI: After lying low for a short while, the septic tanker lorries in the city have resumed their ‘nightly rounds’ with full vigour. Yet another incident of these tankers depositing septic waste in residential areas surfaced on the side of the Stadium Link Road near Kaloor on Monday night. Dominic Morera, a contractor who was digging a trench for laying telephone cables in the area, said that the area was clean when he and his workers left after work on Monday evening. “But when we came on Tuesday morning to resume work, we found the septic waste deposited nearby. We immediately covered it with mud as we could not work because of the unbearable stench,” he said.The cases where these lorries deposit septic waste on roadsides and near residential areas have reportedly gone up in the past few weeks with the night squad of the Corporation lying dormant because of the Piravom by-election, the Corporation budget, trade licence renewal, and the like. “All our squads have not been operational for the past few weeks owing to various year-end tasks. They will be resuming their work by April first week,” said C Shantha, Health Officer, Kochi Corporation.Express had earlier reported in these columns about the tanker lorries disposing septic waste in public places under the cover of darkness. Although the Corporation had warned septic tanker lorry operators against such conduct, the civic body had not provided instructions as to where the city’s night soil should go. An indefinite strike announced by the septic tanker lorry operators in November last year failed to make the desired impact - to get a place for the safe disposal of septic waste. A private company’s plan to set up a septage treatment plant in Brahmapuram had also failed to materialise due to legal hassles and local protests.
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