THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Chief Minister making a timely intervention, the City Corporation has temporarily dropped its idea to allow transportation of garbage vehicles to Vilappilsala waste treatment plant during daytime. The CM has called a high-level meeting on the Vilappilsala issue on August 1. Whether or not to stop night plying of vehicles and allow daytime transportation would be decided only after the meeting, the Mayor said. It was during the period of the last Council that the local people in Vilappilsala and nearby areas had risen in protest against the passage of stinking vehicles through the streets during daytime. The Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions, in an order, had then asked the Corporation to stop the routine and reschedule its timings. Following which, Corporation vehicles collected garbage by afternoon and lay idle in some open grounds (inviting protests from there too) till nighttime to dump the garbage at Vilappilsala. Towards the end of the previous Council, ten airtight closed vehicles had arrived in the city under the JNNURM project for transporting garbage. This had prompted officials to think of plying them during day hours. However, nothing was decided. The present Council arrived at the decision following repeated attacks on the drivers of these vehicles since the Janakeeya Samithi in Vilappilsala began its indefinite strike demanding the shutdown of the plant. Two drivers were assaulted on Tuesday night which led to a one-day strike by the drivers on Wednesday. Around 20 vehicles were parked in front of the Secretariat as part of the strike, choking the city roads for nearly two hours. The Health Committee had also decided to revert the timings of the transportation to day hours. ‘’I met the CM on Thursday. He agreed to call a meeting on Monday to discuss all issues related to the working of the Vilappilsala plant. So, any further decisions in this regard would be taken after that only,’’ said Mayor K Chandrika. Health Standing Committee Chairperson Pushpalatha also said that any move in this direction would be taken only after the meeting. The stand-off between the Vilappil panchayat and the Corporation, the various construction works being undertaken in the plant, the new projects with respect to decentralisation of waste disposal, which is being planned by the Corporation - all these would be discussed.
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