The
Ernakulam district panchayat has decided to take strict measures to check the
unauthorised dumping of waste in canals and abandoned fields in various parts
of the district.
District
panchayat president Eldhose Kunnappillil said 150 tanker lorries had been
permitted by the district to carry septage. “We will check how and where each
of these lorries is dumping or treating the waste they collect,” he said.
Mr.
Kunnappillil was speaking after a district panchayat meeting on Monday to
discuss steps to curb the dumping of waste illegally in parts of the district.
The meeting was convened after residents of Mulavukad burned a lorry that was
bringing toilet waste to be dumped along the roadside early on Sunday morning.
“The people took the law into their own hands. But how can you blame them?
Sewage and septage from the corporation and municipalities are regularly being
dumped in surrounding panchayat areas,” said Mr. Kunnappillil.
People
from different parts of the district have complained about lorries arriving
after midnight to dump toilet and other waste into open drains, canals,
abandoned fields, and roadsides.
A
similar problem persisted in Karukutty panchayat, said panchayat president
Shiny George. “We asked the police to increase patrolling in the area. They
asked us to give them the registration number of the vehicle dumping waste. But
they always come after midnight and is difficult for us to catch them in the
act,” said Ms. George.
Local
residents often woke up in the morning to find toilet waste or meat remains
from slaughterhouses flowing by their doorsteps. The waste dumped also
regularly blocked canals, leading to severe health risks during the rains, said
Ms. George.
The
Mulavukad police have arrested the driver and cleaner of the lorry in which the
waste was being carried. ‘Follow
colour code’
Lorries
carrying toilet waste must sport the mandatory colour code, Ernakulam Joint RTO
Sadiq Ali has said. They must have a brown body, with highway yellow at the
front and rear.
Lorries
or tankers carrying water to construction sites and slurry from work sites too
must abide by this colour code. Lorries that transport potable water must be
painted light blue, with a white border, Mr. Ali said.
The
words ‘Drinking Water’ must be painted prominently on all four sides, to ensure
that they do not transport any type of refuse, or water meant for construction
sites. Mr. Ali called for a change in attitude on the part of lorry owners and
crew so that toilet waste and toxins were not dumped into water bodies and in
thickly-populated areas.
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