KOTTAYAM: The biggest challenge awaiting the new municipal chairman, Mr K.R.G. Varrier, is the waste disposal issue, which has continued to daunt the town for a long time.
The incumbent chairman, Mr M.P. Santhosh Kumar, resigned on Friday after a two-year tenure, and Mr Varrier, a councillor for the last 27 years, will be elected within a month after all the formalities are completed, according to election commission sources.
Mr Varrier told Deccan Chronicle that he was hopeful of finding a solution to the waste crisis after consulting all the stakeholders. “I have no readymade solutions with me.
However, I hope to find a solution after discussions with the parties concerned,” he said.
Mr Santosh Kumar claimed that he had paved the way for solving the waste crisis. “Two biogas plants were started during my period and they will function shortly.
We reduced the waste produced in the district to below six tonnes per day. Earlier, it was much higher,” he said.
According to sources, the construction of two biogas plants with two tonnes of waste processing capacity was progressing at Nagampadom and Vadavathoor in the town.
However, opposition leader of the municipality Mr M.K. Prabhakaran said the claims made by Mr Santhosh were not true and that waste was being dumped at Kodimatha even now.
