Meet to discuss building of sewage treatment plant

KOZHIKODE: A meeting of environmentalists, architects, and residents' associations will be held on April 7 to discuss the issues related to the setting up of a centralised sewage treatment plant by the Kozhikode Corporation under the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP) near Sarovaram Bio-Park here.

Mayor M. Bhaskaran told the city Corporation council on Monday that the meeting would discuss ecological issues raised by residents' associations and environmentalists against the multi-crore project financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). A protest meeting against the project was held last week in which several prominent citizens, including writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair and environmentalist A. Achyuthan, took part.

Councillors P.K. Mamukoya (Congress), M. Krishnan (Communist Party of India- Marxist) and U.T. Rajan (Congress-S) raised the issue through a calling-attention motion at the council meeting. However, the Mayor and CPI(M) councillor P. Divakaran underlined the necessity of setting up a sewage network as well as a treatment plant in the city. Those protesting against the proposal during its implementation stage wanted to scuttle the project at any cost, Mr. Divakaran said.

The CPI (M) member said Dr. Achyuthan had earlier vociferously protested against the Sarovaram Bio-Park when the project was conceived. But it had now proved to be beneficial to citizens.

The protesters said the project should not be implemented in its present form as it envisaged emptying treated water into the Canoly Canal. The project would ruin the Sarovaram Bio-Park that was being developed as a major tourist attraction, they said.

‘Address concerns'

Mr. Mamukoya said the project should not be shelved, but the concerns of the residents should be addressed.

According to KSUDP officials, the new sewerage and sanitation project included rehabilitation and extension of the sewage in the north and the central areas and construction of a sewage treatment plant, with a capacity of 27 million litres a day, at Karimbanapalam.

The Rs. 60-crore project has taken into consideration several aspects such as the Arabian Sea in the west; the Canoly Canal in the east; the Kallai river in the south; and the Corporation boundary in the north. At present, there is no organised and scientific system to disposing of sewage in the city.

Raising another issue, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.Mamukoya Haji demanded that the Corporation construct buildings for anganwadis at Vellayil under the KSUDP scheme. Hansa Jayant, councillor belonging to the Janata Dal (Secular) faction led by Deve Gowda, said the railway authorities should take steps to open an entry to the fourth platform of the Kozhikode railway station.

Source: The Hindu, dated: 30th March 2010