THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation, shedding all decorum, has lashed out at the State Government for remaining indifferent to the plight of the city, now almost drowned in garbage. Not only did the Corporation officials boycott a meeting called by Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali on Monday to discuss landfilling of garbage, in a press meet later in the day announced that they would move the Court against the Government stand. According to Works Chairman V S Padmakumar, the meeting convened by Minister Ali was aimed at giving directions to landfill garbage generated in the wards there itself. The meeting was boycotted by the LDF councillors, including the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and the Standing Committee Chairmen. ‘’For five months now, we have been landfilling garbage, which is totally unscientific. But we were forced to do it. Landfilling has reached saturation; we have made it clear to the government that we will not landfill garbage any more. It’s time the Government resorted to concrete steps to solve the issue,’’ Mayor K Chandrika said at the press meet. ‘’The Government stand is actually contempt of court and if the Corporation officials had attended the meeting, we would have become a part of it,’’ the Mayor said. According to officials, around 30,000 tonnes of waste have already been buried in the heart of the city by now. The Government, which is seen taking a soft stand towards other Corporations, is adopting a step-motherly attitude towards the City Corporation here, officials said at the press meet. ‘’The IMA, the Ground Water Department and scientists had said that landfilling would lead to health problems when the rains start, which was why we decided to stop it,’’ Padmakumar said. Apart from a minor subsidy allotted for pipe-composting, the Government has not taken a single step in helping the Corporation. The mobile incinerator proposed by the Government has not yet been okayed. The Corporation has begun steps to install biogas plants at Peroorkada, Poojappura and a couple of other places. The Corporation will also go in for a national bidding to set up a ‘rendering plant’ at the slaughter house at Kunnukuzhy to treat animal waste. Now that the Government is not taking any action, the local body would move Court to seek a reprieve from the current situation, officials said.
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