Uncovered vehicles transporting solid waste are a
common sight in Kochi even as norms for collecting and disposing waste
are continuously being flouted in many parts of the city.
Despite
Corporation authorities giving an assurance in December last year that
40 fully automated pickup vehicles for collecting waste would ply in the
city by March, the waste management system still remains the same.
T.
K. Ashraf, Chairman of the Health Standing Committee, had then pointed
out that automated vehicles would ensure the waste is handled in a
hygienic manner. He had also stated that open tenders for the purchase
of vehicles would be floated by December.The Corporation has violated
the central guideline that vehicles used for transportation of waste
should be properly covered. The rules prescribe that waste should not be
visible to public, nor exposed to open environment to prevent their
scattering.
As per the guidelines the . vehicles
should be so designed in such a way that multiple handling of waste,
prior to final disposal, is avoided.
Open trucks are
used daily for collecting solid waste from areas coming under the
corporation limit. Only a plastic sheet is used to cover the refuse
transported to the now defunct solid waste management facility in
Brahmapuram. Garbage spills on to the roads adding to the woes
experienced by Kochiites. Shop owners near the North Railway station,
where an open truck is used, pointed out that the stench emanating from
the waste becomes unbearable by the time it’s loaded manually into the
trucks by around 10 a.m. daily. Commuters who get down at the Vyttila
junction said that a sizeable portion of the waste disposed near the bus
shelter remains there, as manual loading failed to remove the entire
garbage piled up in the area.
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