Thiruvananthapuram: The State Pollution Control Board has slapped a notice on Thiruvananthapuram Corporation seeking payment of Rs 14.59 crore as environment compensation for the civic body’s failure to comply with Solid Waste Management Rules framed under the Environmental Protection Act. The notice is returnable within 15 days.
Sources said this is the second in a series of notices planned to “model cities and villages” under the “Polluter Pays Principle”. The polluter has to compensate the public for the damage and if the civic body fails to enforce the principle, it ends paying under collective liability.
The other model city of Thrissur, already slapped with a notice for Rs 5 crore, had sent it reply to the Board.
The Board has cited Sections 3, 6 and 25 Environmental Protection Act 1986 and the Central Government re-notified Solid Waste Management Rules 2016.
Failures have been chiefly to identify suitable sites for setting up solid waste...
processing facilities as per Rule 22 (1) of SWM Rules, suitable sites for setting up processing facility and sanitary landfill facilities as per Rule 22 (3) and door-to-door collection of segregated waste and its transportation in covered vehicles to processing or disposing facility as per Rule 22 (5)
Also the Corporation failed to set up solid waste processing facility for the complete quantity of waste generated from the local body at the rate of 0.4 to 0.5 Kg /person/day and separate storage , collection and transportation of construction and demolition waste by April 8, 2018
The notice further said the Corporation had failed to establish alternate modern treatment plant upon closure of the solid waste treatment facility at Vilappilsala in 2012.
The Corporation also stopped door-to-door collection of biodegradable organic waste on closure of the solid waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala.
The notice said the Corporation provided in some households various devices for composting of organic waste known as pipe compost, kitchen bin and pot compost.
The Corporation used promotion of various source-level treatment schemes as convenient method of denying households, slums and informal settlements commercial and non-residential premises door-to-door collection of organic waste in violation of Rule 15 (b)
The Pollution Board district office found that a number of composting devices have malfunctioned causing unhygienic conditions because of worms, flies and rodent nuisance in violation of Rule 15 (1) leaving the waste generators to depend on private services to remove waste from their premises
The Corporation also failed to published ward-wise list concessionaires providing waste service and public information on door-to-door waste collection on the official website of the Corporation and on Smart Trivandrum mobile application with waste management services
Private services operating in the city have not obtained registration from the Board for treatment facilities for the disposal of waste.
