001. Trivandrum City Corporation's Betrayal of Vilappilsala Village People.

001.

Trivandrum City Corporation's Betrayal of Vilappilsala Village People.

Supreme Court upholds High Court order on Vilappilsala waste plant.  

NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an order of the Kerala high court directing the Kerala government to give protection for the smooth functioning of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation's garbage treatment plant at Vilappilsala.

TNN | Apr 18, 2012, 05.36AM IST

Can We Dispose Waste In Our Neighbor’s Property? Trivandrum City grows each day by receiving more people from all over Kerala, as every other capital city in the world does. Large quantities of man made waste is therefore accumulated in the city each day. Many years back the city authorities burned the waste generated at a place there itself. Large waste bins and cans were placed in different parts of the city where people could deposit their wastes which the city corporation staff would come and collect each day and dispose of decently. No one had any complaints. The city was clean and neat. The corporation councilors then represented a race that was dedicated to people. They then did engage themselves in some occupation to make their living and served the corporation as councillors as a service. Then this changed and a new race of politicians who do no work but take serving the society as their work and earning began to be got elected as city councillors. They considered cleaning the city as a detestable and mean work and in their general laxity the Trivandrum city lost its world famous cleanliness and neatness. The city began to smell. People began to complain and a private company came forward with a solution as if there have been no solutions to this kind of problem in the world. ‘Purchase a few acres of land in a distant village, construct a burning yard there and forget.’ No Corporation Mayor, Commissioner or Environmental Adviser was willing to raise the question of why spending huge amounts of money for long – distance transportation and creating hell in a remote peaceful and quiet village. No political parties, trade or youth organizations or nature activists questioned the authority of this city corporation to purchase land in another distant village and pollute it. Everyone was eager to share the new pie, involving many million rupees, all tax payers’ money. Thus the hell in Vilappilsala was created. Now they wish to destroy other beauty spots such as Brymore, Tenmala and Nettukaltherry. The corporation mayor of Trivandrum accompanied by other councillors toured Kozhikode to study how waste is being disposed there. Why go to the distant Kozhikode? There is an excellent and model waste disposal plant just 32 kilometres from Trivandrum, run by the efficient local body of Attingal Municipality. Why don't imitate them? It was government's good will to allot a huge amount of 5.7 crores to Trivandrum Corporation for waste management and disposing waste in its sources. The city corporation shall not utilize this amount for fighting the people of Vilappilsala Village. The Trivandrum city corporation went too far when they initiated legal litigation against the people of Vilappilsala. Moreover, nowadays they are fighting like mad against the state administration for purely political reasons. Government does not seem to keep any animosity towards this hostile corporation. People have the right to know how this amount is going too be spent.

Capital's mayor in Kozhikode for waste disposal tips.  

KOZHIKODE: A delegation led by Thiruvananthapuram corporation mayor K Chandrika visited the Njeliyanparamba trenching ground on Sunday to study the waste disposal method adopted by the city corporation.

Mar 19, 2012, 04.26AM IST

Can We Dispose Waste In Our Neighbour’s Property? Trivandrum City grows each day by receiving more people from all over Kerala, as every other capital city in the world does. Large quantities of man made waste is therefore accumulated in the city each day. Many years back the city authorities burned the waste generated at a place there itself. Large waste bins and cans were placed in different parts of the city where people could deposit their wastes which the city corporation staff would come and collect each day and dispose of decently. No one had any complaints. The city was clean and neat. The corporation councilors then represented a race who were dedicated to people. They then did engage themselves in some occupation to make their living and served the corporation as councillors as a service. Then this changed and a new race of politicians who do no work but take serving the society as their work and earning began to be got elected as city councillors. They considered cleaning the city as a detestable and mean work and in their general laxity the Trivandrum city lost its world famous cleanliness and neatness. The city began to smell. People began to complain and a private company came forward with a solution as if there have been no solutions to this kind of problem in the world. ‘Purchase a few acres of land in a distant village, construct a burning yard there and forget.’ No Corporation Mayor, Commissioner or Environmental Advisers was willing to raise the question of why spending huge amounts of money for long – distance transportation and creating hell in a remote peaceful and quiet village. No political parties, trade or youth organizations or nature activists questioned the authority of this city corporation to purchase land in another distant village and polluting it. Everyone was eager to share the new pie, involving many million rupees, all tax payers’ money. Thus the hell in Vilappilsala was created. Now they wish to destroy other beauty spots such as Brymore, Tenmala and Nettukaltherry. Why go to the distant Kozhikode? There is an excellent and model waste disposal plant just 32 kilometres from Trivandrum, run by the efficient local body of Attingal Municipality. Why don't imitate them?

Corporation plans to treat waste on government office premises. 

 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state government giving clear signs of bowing to the pressure of Vilappilsala panchayat, despite a Supreme Court order in favour of the former, the corporation is planning to forward a proposal to allocate land from government office premises for burying the waste.

TNN | Apr 21, 2012, 06.12AM IST

The Corporation of Trivandrum deciding to dispose waste in government office compounds clears all doubts about the sanity of many of its members. The corporation does have enough places of their own to dispose their waste. These places are scattered throughout the city, in prime spots, with good real estate value. “If these places are set apart for disposal of our waste, what shall we say, when such and such persons who contributed heavily to our funds come with some proposal to construct something there?” This is what hinders all councilors from raising the subject of utilizing their own places for burial or burning of these wastes. Money and future political gains come first; people’s hygiene and safety come only the second, for them. The government offices in Trivandrum city have space, which are a blessing to the people from our old administrators, which are not places for the city corporation to trample. They did plan the city well, and paid salaries to technical personnel for doing their jobs well. How much amount does the Trivandrum City Corporation pay as salaries to technical personnel who do nothing to solve technical problems brilliantly? The recent wicked ideas coming from the city corporation have no justification or people’s mandate. Court orders are not people’s mandate but one of the many explanations of a law. We all know that there is only one law in a matter, but courts from the Municipal to the Supreme gives verdicts differently, in every country. That is why appeals go to the Supreme Court level. Whatever the law says, in the matter of their persecuting the people of Vilappilsala and threatening the people of Ponmudi, Brymore, Idinjar and Nettukaltherry, and now Kottakkakom and Poojapura, the Trivandrum Corporation has no people’s mandate. The entire state of Kerala, especially the people of Vilappilsala, and their government are right, and against them. Who are they fighting with, people? If they are shivering with duty consciousness, why doesn’t this corporation inspect homes for dog licenses and make some money? Why don’t remove the dogs responsible for spreading dengue and chikungunya?

Incinerators just don't measure up.  

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The approval given to mobile incinerators in the city are in violation of the guidelines of central pollution control board (CPCB). The technical committee appointed to evaluate the mobile incinerators has given consent to set up incinerators with a stack height of 11 metres.

TNN | Apr 10, 2012, 11.12PM IST

When we hear about technical committees constituted for purchasing things for government departments, municipalities or corporations, we needn’t wonder about the technical visions and discussions that would have gone into the making of their decisions. Almost all such technical committees are made up of members of government who reached technical positions just through toe licking and favouritism, not through any type of technical proficiency. So, practically, no thinking goes into the making of their decisions. From the purchase of heavy duty trucks to the purchase of simple x-ray machines, that is what is going on in government. Because they are not fairly recruited, most of them would not have any commitment to the community or any respect for regulations. Moreover, most of them would be departmental canvassing agents for the supplying firms. That is why the names, posts and technical qualifications of these so called technical committee members are never disclosed when the deals are closed, how much costly the deal. It is evident that the Trivandrum City Corporation is thrust upon with a fleet of illegally designed and manufactured Waste Incinerating Machines and a few more lakhs of public money have been squandered by them. This is the cost people pay for electing the ignoramus who does not have even basic scientific knowledge to see things in advance and the backbone to say ‘no’ when necessary. After seeing the show of turning against the people of the nearby Vilappilsala Village, suing them in the law-court, running away from the responsibility of the city’s waste disposal, touring the world for studying waste disposal and now purchasing a few incinerators unconforming to norms and violating all rules, the people of Trivandrum can say only one thing to their Corporation authorities: Just resign and do some decent job to make a living.