THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kanikanumpara - a beautiful hillock at Karode with a natural spring that flows down to the river Meenampally. How the scenic hill turned into a prospective site for a garbage treatment plant has never really been comprehended by the people of Vilappil panchayat.The stench that crosses kilometres, the garbage hills that are visible from a distance, the contaminated water sources, the diminishing health of the little ones, the paddy fields that vanish, the families who choose to disappear from the land - it has been a scary story for 11 long years.The end scene was written at 9 am on Wednesday, when the Vilappil panchayat officials locked the big gates of the 100-acre plant and took the keys away. It was a year-long struggle by the locals and Janakeeya Samithi that saw the closure of the plant. The Vilappil panchayat committee had passed a resolution deciding to close the plant on Monday which was approved by 15 out of the 20 panchayat committee members. Though the Chief Minister had called for a consensus meeting on Wednesday at 11 am, the panchayat officials chose a much earlier time to lock the plant and then leave for the meeting. ‘’I went to the meeting with the keys. I made it clear that the government stand - that the plant would be shifted from Vilappilsala - is acceptable. But that doesn’t mean we will let garbage trucks enter our land. The plant has been locked forever,’’ said Shobana Kumari, Vilappil panchayat president, after the meeting with the Chief Minister. The members of the Janakeeya Samithi, who have been agitating for the closure of the plant for months now and whose plan to block the garbage trucks led to the present situation, walked out of the meeting. ‘’The government asked for three more months to be given to the City Corporation. There is no question of giving a single more day,’’ said S Burhan, Janakeeya Samithi leader. The locals here had rung the alarm bells close to the local body polls last year, but most of the political parties, and especially the LDF-led Corporation, had dubbed it as a pre-election farce. But throwing a surprise, the UDF-led Vilappil panchayat also joined the protestors, forcing the Corporation to think of alternatives.Decentralisation of waste disposal was the new mantra chanted, but even after a year, the mini-plants which were promised are yet to come up.
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