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Work to begin at Brahmapuram on Monday

Staff Reporter

Councillors worried over garbage menace

KOCHI: Landfill work for the waste processing plant at Brahmapuram will begin on Monday.

Mayor Mercy Williams announced this at a Corporation Council meeting here on Friday. The Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Corporation will start the work, which will cost Rs. 2.5 crore.

Prof. Williams said there was a delay in starting the work, as the agency had earlier quoted a higher price for it.

The problem of solid waste not being removed from the city was one of the key issues debated at the council meeting.

A.V. Sabu, councillor, said that it was a shame on the city that no solution had been found yet for the managing the waste generated here daily. There had to be an end to it.

Many councillors voiced their concern over the issue. Shyamala Prabhu said that she could not agree with K.J. Maxy, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Health, that waste was being removed from all parts of the city and fogging was undertaken to check the mosquito menace.

Mr. Maxy had said that there was delay in getting the fogging machines working because of the laxity of officials, and action needed to be taken against them.

Water-borne diseases

The Mayor said the District Medical Officer had opined that the increasing incidence of water-borne diseases reported in the district could not be attributed to the contamination of the waters of the Periyar.

However, the health authorities were taking up awareness campaigns and precautionary measures.

The water contamination was a major issue debated by a number of councillors. Prem Kumar started the debate. Mr. Sabu said the Government had announced grant of fund to provide potable water. Instead of debating whether it was the Government or the Corporation that was responsible for providing water, the initiative should be taken to start the supply. More than one contractor should be engaged in distributing water.

With regard to the K.P. Vallon Road repair issue, brought up by Johnson, the Mayor said that more discussions were needed to get the Government agree to fund it. However, the repairs would be done soon. The road was badly damaged because of the laying of pipelines for the Hudco water project. The councillors argued that if the Mayor did not get the Government to agree to spend on repairs, it would set a bad precedent for the Corporation.

K.G. Dinesan, K.V. Manoj, K.J. Antony, C.K. Peter, C.K. Gopalan, Girish, Rangaraj, Hamsa Kunju, Basil, Sheela Gerome, M. Sunil Kumar and T.J. Vinod were among the councillors who participated in the discussions.

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