A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has ordered that refuse compactor vehicles available with the Kochi Corporation for waste removal be repaired to the extent possible and put to effective use at the earliest.
When the suo motu case registered in the wake of the fire outbreak at Brahmapuram came up for hearing recently, the Corporation submitted that out of the 13 refuse compactor vehicles, 11 could be made road-worthy and put to use. The compactor vehicles had already been repaired while three more could be repaired immediately. The Corporation secretary assured the court that apart from the seven, four more refuse compactors could be repaired and work in that regard was going on smoothly.
The court also directed the Corporation to explore the possibility of setting up sanitary napkin incinerators at various establishments in the city.
The government submitted that the Southern Railway had been alerted about the need to clear plastic and other waste that accumulated on railway tracks and in surrounding areas in the State.
The Bench expressed its hope that the government and the Corporation would continue to provide all support for the effective removal and management of waste at Brahmapuram. The Bench comprising Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas and Justice P. Gopinath had visited the Brahmapuram site on March 7 to ascertain the progress of waste treatment measures and related facilities on the campus. The judges had inspected the legacy waste treatment facility set up by Bhumi Green Energy and the two plants being set up for the black soldier fly project, apart from the site earmarked for setting up the BPCL project.
The Bench, which inspected the fire safety aspects including water sprinklers, water tanks and other facilities provided to prevent the recurrence of the fire that occurred last year, recorded its appreciation for the work done to remove legacy waste from the site.
