Title - Protest brews again

The city Corporation and the State government are likely to run into trouble yet again on the waste disposal front with opposition building up against the Kochuveli garbage disposal project.The Janakeeya Samithi, an action council of party leaders and residents in the locality, which held a meeting here on Sunday made it clear that they would strongly oppose the transportation of waste to Kochuveli. Transportation of garbage from the city to Kochuveli railway station for the construction of a platform there will resume on Monday.“We will oppose the move to convert our locality into a waste yard. We are planning to launch a major agitation as part of this from Tuesday. A final decision on this will be taken on Monday after we meet once again,” said Janakeeya Samithi convener G. Vasantha Raj.

Campaign
He said that though there would be no major protests on Monday the forum would launch its campaign against the proposal on the day. “We need to garner the support of more people and involve more individuals in this agitation. That is why we are deferring the protest by a day. Already all major parties and organisations have extended support for our campaign against this waste dumping project,” Mr. Vasantha Raj said.

Meanwhile, Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Mohammed Musthafa said that the government’s priority was to remove the garbage from the city, and transportation of garbage to Kochuveli would be carried out as decided. “They have the right to protest against the project in a peaceful manner. However, if they try to cause hindrance to garbage disposal we will have to intervene,” he said.

Mr. Musthafa added that the government had called the agitating residents for discussion several times and ensured that the dumping of waste at the railway terminal was done in a scientific manner, as per their demand.

“If they still continue to protest against the project and create obstacles, we may have to take action,” he said.