Navy, Kochi Cor end standoff on waste disposal

Kochi, Oct 5 (UNI) Ending a five-day standoff on waste disposal, which had seen garbage piling up on the roadside all over this city, the Southern Naval Command today allowed Kochi Corporation to dump waste on the Willingdon Island till the end of the month.

The Southern Naval Command had notified the Kochi Corporation in April, 2002 that an increase in bird activities due to the dumping of garbage at Willingdon Island, in the proximity of the Naval Airport, was adversely affecting flying operations.

The Corporation had then agreed to shift the dumping site to Brahmapuram from November, 2002, when its garbage disposal plant would be commissioned. However, following a delay in the setting up of the plant, the corporation kept getting extensions, the latest one of which ended on September 30.

According to a spokesman of the Southern Naval Command, following the corporation's assurance that no further extensions would be sought, the Navy had started the re-carpeting of its runway and was now using an old runway which lay close to the site where the waste was being dumped.

With the Navy refusing to allow the Corporation to dump the waste on Willingdon Island from October one and no other place earmarked for the same, garbage has been overflowing on the streets of Kochi, adding to the fears of a dengue or chikungunya outbreak in the city.

MORE UNI ARC VV MIR HT1804