Protest Mounting

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Environment Study Centre, Santhigram, has urged the State Government to withdraw from the move to set up a garbage treatment plant at Nettukaltheri. The Centre office-bearers said that the proposal to shift the controversial garbage treatment plant from Vilappilsala to Nettukaltheri would lead to the large-scale pollution of an ecologically sensitive region. They said that the plant would contaminate the waters of the Neyyar river and dam, the main source of drinking water and irrigation needs of the people living in the downstream areas.  The move to set up a garbage plant at Nettukaltheri or any other location in the catchment area of the Neyyar river would also affect the Kalippara drinking water project scheduled to be commissioned soon. As the Neyyar river also feeds the Vellayani lake, it will also lead to the pollution of the fresh water lake, thereby affecting thousands of families at Vellayani. The authorities should think of safer options for effective waste management, they said. A meeting of the ‘Watchdog committee on climate change’ held at Santhigram Chappath also urged the Government to withdraw from the move, which, it said, would have a devastating effect on thousands of families living on the southern areas extending from Kattakkada to Vellayani.  The committee and the Environment Study Centre have demanded that the Government should devise methods for source-level treatment of waste. The Corporation should also set up ward-level or regional-level treatment plants and withdraw from the move to set up a big treatment plant, they said.