001. Can we dispose waste in our neighbour's property?

Kerala Commentary. Trivandrum. 001.

Can we dispose waste in our neighbour's property?

P.S.Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

The Corporation of Trivandrum thinks so. They went to the quiet Vilappilsala Village in Trivandrum District, purchased a few acres of land there and built a waste treatment plant. Now the people of Vilappilsala suffer intolearably from diseases and deformities. They went on struggle against the plant and eventually it was closed. The Mayor of Trivandrum sued the people there and the Supreme Court of India directed the plant to be opened. What should a people of a village do, die for the city's wastes or to go hang themselves? Like Velutthampy Dalava of the old Travancore administration asked, when everyone is for enforcing law, who is there to enforce justice?

Trivandrum Mayor and a team to tour the world to learn waste disposal tips.

Can We Dispose Waste In Our Neighbour’s Property? Trivandrum City grows each day by receiving more people from all over Kerala, as every other capital city in the world does. Large quantities of man made waste is therefore accumulated in the city each day. Many years back the city authorities burned the waste generated at a place there itself. Large waste bins and cans were placed in different parts of the city where people could deposit their wastes which the city corporation staff would come and collect each day and dispose of decently. No one had any complaints. The city was clean and neat. The corporation councilors then represented a race who were dedicated to people. They then did engage themselves in some occupation to make their living and served the corporation as councillors as a service. Then this changed and a new race of politicians who do no work but take serving the society as their work and earning began to be got elected as city councillors. They considered cleaning the city as a detestable and mean work and in their general laxity the Trivandrum city lost its world famous cleanliness and neatness. The city began to smell. People began to complain and a private company came forward with a solution as if there have been no solutions to this kind of problem in the world. ‘Purchase a few acres of land in a distant village, construct a burning yard there and forget.’ No Corporation Mayor, Commissioner or Environmental Advisers was willing to raise the question of why spending huge amounts of money for long – distance transportation and creating hell in a remote peaceful and quiet village. No political parties, trade or youth organizations or nature activists questioned the authority of this city corporation to purchase land in another distant village and polluting it. Everyone was eager to share the new pie, involving many million rupees, all tax payers’ money. Thus the hell in Vilappilsala was created. Now they wish to destroy other beauty spots such as Brymore, Tenmala and Nettukaltherry. A delegation led by Thiruvananthapuram corporation mayor K Chandrika visited the Njeliyanparamba trenching ground in Kozhikode on a Sunday in March 2012 to study the waste disposal method adopted by the city corporation there and to learn waste disposal tips. Why go to the distant Kozhikode? There is an excellent and model waste disposal plant just 32 kilometres from Trivandrum, run by the efficient local body of Attingal Municipality. Why don't imitate them? Now she says that her team would tour the world for the same purpose. Why tour the world? What are the Chief Engineers of the Public Works Department, Water Authority and Town Planing Trust sitting there for, receiving hundred thousand of rupees for no technical know-how?

Kerala Responses. A Wall Poster. By Indu @ Wikimedia Commons.

Will the Mayor spend the Government-allotted 5.7 crore rupees to fight the people of Vilappilsala village?

Being convinced of the health hazards originating from accumulation of waste in Trivandrum city, the Mayors' and her team's wicked laziness in responding to this problem and the sad plight of the affected Vilappilsala village people, the Government of Kerala in March 2012 handed over 5.7 crore rupees to the Corporation of Trivandrum for source-level waste management and disposal. It was government's good will to allot this much amount to the Trivandrum City Corporation for improving their sewage treatment facilities and helping disposing waste in its sources. The city corporation shall not utilize this amount for fighting the people of Vilappilsala Village. No local authority has the authority to purchase land in another local body, construct waste disposal plants there and pollute their atmosphere, land and water. It is not decent behaviour whether it is from a citizen or from an organization. We cannot simply dispose our waste in our neighbour's property. The Trivandrum city corporation went too far when they initiated legal litigation against the people of Vilappilsala. Moreover, nowadays they are fighting like mad against the state administration for purely political reasons. But the government does not seem to keep any animosity towards this hostile corporation. People of Kerala and the residents of Trivandrum have the right to know in advance what this amount allotted by the government from tax payers' money is going to be utilized by the corporation for. In the present circumstances, words aired by this corporation can no more be believed. They are spending their revenue foolishly and wastefully. The mayor and a team visited Kozhikode for learning how waste is disposed there. They most probably will tour France, Italy and Spain and what not to learn the same thing. But like any sensible persons do, they did not visit the Attingal Municipality to study and imitate the very efficient, complaint-less waste disposal plants there. Attingal is only 32 kilometers away. So their intention is clear: squander money wastefully or redirect it for political achievements. What money allotted by the government now could have easily been generated by the city corporation by enforcing strict observance of dog-licensing alone. There are at least two dogs in each home and not even a thousand dog licenses have been issued in the corporation. Helmets, seat belts, everything is now compulsory. Why did the corporation failed in collecting this unbelievably huge revenue? What else are their health inspectors doing? Evicting innocent road side merchants? No sooner the above amount was released by the Government than the Corporation thieves spent it on purchasing waste burial pipes, a mere stop-gap arrangement, at exorbitant prices and commissions of course, and demanded more. And the Government, without ordering a probe into how that money was spent, allotted more! Isn't this money coming from public treasury, is it to be wasted to fatten a few inert corrupt politicians in the Corporation?

Technical committee with no technical knowledge recommending to purchase mobile incinerators, violating pollution control laws.

A technical committee appointed to evaluate engaging mobile incinerators in Trivandrum city gave consent to set up incinerators with a stack height of 11 metres. This approval given in April 2012 to use mobile incinerators in the city was in violation of the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board of India. When we hear about technical committees constituted for purchasing things for government departments, municipalities or corporations, we needn't wonder about the technical visions and discussions that would have gone into the making of their decisions. Almost all such technical committees are made up of members of government who reached technical positions just through toe licking and favouritism, not through any type of technical proficiency. So, practically, no thinking goes into the making of their decisions. From the purchase of heavy duty trucks to the purchase of simple x-ray machines, that is what is going on in government. Because they are not fairly recruited, most of them would not have any commitment to the community or any respect for regulations. Moreover, most of them would be departmental canvassing agents for the supplying firms. That is why the names, posts and technical qualifications of these so called technical committee members are never disclosed when the deals are closed, how much costly the deal. It is evident that the Trivandrum City Corporation is thrust upon with a fleet of illegally designed and manufactured Waste Incinerating Machines and a few more lakhs of public money have been squandered by them. This is the cost people pay for electing the ignoramus who does not have even basic scientific knowledge to see things in advance and the backbone to say ‘no’ when necessary. After seeing the show of turning against the people of the nearby Vilappilsala Village, suing them in the law-court, running away from the responsibility of the city’s waste disposal, touring the world for studying waste disposal and now purchasing a few incinerators unconforming to norms and violating all rules, the people of Trivandrum can say only one thing to their Corporation authorities: Just resign and do some decent job to make a living.

What will happen if the 1000 local bodies in Kerala purchase land in Trivandrum, build their waste disposal yards there and do as they please?

The Supreme Court in April 2012 upheld an order of the Kerala high court directing the Kerala government to give protection for the smooth functioning of the Trivandrum Corporation's garbage treatment plant at Vilappilsala. The whole affected population of Vilappilsala kept vigil day and night before the plant and resisted police action. Women, children, old men, everyone participated in this people's resistance. The Mayor became mad and began to bark, "arrest those people, arrest those people, crush them away" day and night, a lady for that matter and a mother. She has only the mandate of just a few thousand voters and the majority of only a couple hundred voters. But the wise Government, which has the mandate of millions of people, considered the position of Vilappilsala people benevolently and decided not to yield to the ramblings of the Trivandrum Mayor. They took the stand of not persecuting the people of Vilappilsala anymore. Trivandrum is a city of top level technocrats. The people of Kerala are waiting for these bums to find out an amiable and acceptable solution to this problem of disposal of waste in the source place itself, instead of each local administration going to another local administration, purchase land there with people's money and build their waste disposal yards there. What will happen if the 1000 village committees in Kerala purchase land in Trivandrum and build their waste disposal yards? If Trivandrum City Corporation can purchase land in Trivandrum, obtain licenses and do as they please, what law is there to prevent the 1000 local bodies including Vilappil Village from purchasing land in Trivandrum City, obtain licenses by the same route and do as they please? It will be anarchy, and those who permitted the City Corporation's purchasing land in another village did wrong and did sin. Never, again never, shall a local body allowed to purchase land in another local body for whatever purpose.

Finally the Corporation decided to pollute the premises of the good old Government offices of Trivandrum.

Seeing that the whole people of Kerala are against the insensible Mayor of Trivandrum, the Corporation finally decided to bury their waste in the government office premises in Trivandrum. They are submitting to government a proposal for allocating suitable land in the offices. The Corporation of Trivandrum deciding to dispose waste in government office compounds clears all doubts about the sanity of many of its members. The corporation does have enough places of their own to dispose their waste. These places are scattered throughout the city, in prime spots, with good real estate value. “If these places are set apart for disposal of our waste, what shall we say, when such and such persons who contributed heavily to our funds come with some proposal to construct something there?” This is what hinders all councilors from raising the subject of utilizing their own places for burial or burning of these wastes. Money and future political gains come first; people’s hygiene and safety come only the second, for them. The government offices in Trivandrum city have space, which are a blessing to the people from our old administrators, which are not places for the city corporation to trample. They did plan the city well, and paid salaries to technical personnel for doing their jobs well. How much amount does the Trivandrum City Corporation pay as salaries to technical personnel who do nothing to solve technical problems brilliantly? The recent wicked ideas coming from the city corporation have no justification or people’s mandate. Court orders are not people’s mandate but one of the many explanations of a law. We all know that there is only one law in a matter, but courts from the Municipal to the Supreme gives verdicts differently, in every country. That is why appeals go to the Supreme Court level. Whatever the law says, in the matter of their persecuting the people of Vilappilsala and threatening the people of Ponmudi, Brymore, Idinjar and Nettukaltherry, and now Kottakkakom and Poojapura, the Trivandrum Corporation has no people’s mandate. The entire state of Kerala, especially the people of Vilappilsala, and their government are right, and against them. Who are they fighting with, people? If they are shivering with duty consciousness, why doesn’t this corporation inspect homes for dog licenses and make some money? Why don’t remove the dogs responsible for spreading dengue and chikungunya?