With quarry land-filling emerging as the next best solution for waste disposal yet again, the District Administration and Sanitation Mission are charting out ways to move ahead with the idea without delay. Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali is expected to hold a meeting with officials on Wednesday before announcing the next step.
The Collector, who has been entrusted with the speedy implementation of the proposal, says there are no hurdles as many abandoned quarries within the Corporation limits have already been identified.
“There are abandoned quarries at Peroorkada, Thiruvallam and Vizhinjam among many other places. Cholera is spreading like wildfire and already six cases have been confirmed. We cannot wait for more lives to be snatched away by succumbing to local protests which are mainly due to ignorance on their part about the proposal,” District Collector K N Satish said.
The Corporation and Sanitation Mission had earlier identified an abandoned quarry at Vellar to carry out the project there. Even the funds were allocated. The accredited agency entrusted with the work, after an inspection of the site, had informed the local body that the move would disturb and upset the water table in the area and that it was not practical or scientific. The local protest there added to the withdrawal of the State Government from the proposal then.
‘‘It is a misconception that there is seepage in the quarries. If the water still springs out even after the existing water is pumped out, then we can conclude that there is seepage. Otherwise, the water can be pumped out, land-filled and garbage dumped,” the Collector said.
The Corporation which had made known its displeasure at the proposal at the initial stage has not raised much hullabaloo this time. ‘‘Our proposal for government land to land-fill was not even considered. Let the government go ahead and face the consequences too,” a Corporation official said.
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