RailEnquiry

The government has decided to temporarily drop its plan to use garbage as filler for building railway platforms at Kochuveli. In a meeting of residents association, political leaders and corporation officials convened by urban affairs minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali here on Tuesday, the government met with stiff opposition from the locals of Kochuveli regarding the government's decision.

The members of residents' association pointed out that they cannot let their living place turn into another Vilappilsala and that the government should withdraw its move. Despite the best efforts of the minister to convince them, the people did not relent.

Eventually minister told the meeting that the government will not go ahead. However, it is learnt that the government will not completely back away from the proposed tie-up with railways to use the garbage in a constructive manner.

"The railways has listed about 27 places where garbage can be used as a filler material in the construction of railway platforms. This is not a scheme where we mean to dump huge quantities of waste in one place. It is a highly scientific way of using garbage and the government is hopeful that people could be convinced about the positives of such a project. There is no way the government would completely shelve this project," said a source.

The idea was to transport 400 tonnes of waste to Kochuveli which could be used along with the earth in increasing the length of platforms. The government had earlier tried to convert the rock quarry at Vellar into a waste processing plant. However, due to intense protest from the locals, government was forced to abandon the idea.