Chief Minister to convene meeting today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chief Minister has called for a meeting on Tuesday to end the impasse that has befallen the solid waste management project of the City Corporation. An all-party team headed by Mayor K Chandrika handed over a memorandum to the government on Monday evening asking necessary actions to be taken to avoid the city from becoming a stinking pit.   The present crisis developed after the Vilappil Janakeeya Samithi decided to block all vehicles carrying garbage from the city to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant from Sunday. More than 1000 men, women and children participated in the demonstration in Nedunkuzhi in Vilapil on Sunday announcing the blockade plans. A high-level meeting of the Corporation and police officials on Sunday had decided to drop the plan of transporting garbage to Vilappilsala as the police feared that a law and order situation cropping up at the venue.    Meanwhile the Corporation has plans to shift the transporting time from late night to morning hours. According to Corporation officials, the police team has also suggested a change of time. Should anything  unfortunate happen, the police would be able to identify the miscreants in the daylight. However, an official decision would be arrived at only after the meeting called by the CM.   “The CM had called for a meeting on September 17, however he chose to stay out of the city without keeping his word. It is up to the government to arrive at a solution, we are not equipped with police force to control the mob,” said Mayor K Chandrika.  Meanwhile, the Janakeeya Samithi leaders reiterated that they mean no violence. “Decentralisation of waste is the natural solution, it doesn’t require time. We wont come to a meeting table unless it is to decide on the time span in shutting down the plant. People expect us to turn violent, they want to see a clash but they do not see the suffering we are going through. It is like putting worms into our food. The whole place has been contaminated,” Noorudin, Samithi leader said.   A meeting of the Corporation officials that met here on Monday evening also expressed helplessness on the issue and shifted the whole responsibility of the crisis to the shoulders of the State Government.