KOCHI: The National Green Tribunal has flayed Kochi corporation for its mismanagement of Brahmapuram plant and has given it six months’ time to regularize waste treatment at the plant.NGT, while hearing a batch of petitions filed by residents of the Vaduvathode-Puthencruz panchayat, had in its earlier hearing stated that the plant was functioning without the permission of the state pollution control board from 2010. It had also pointed out that it was polluting the waterbodies as leachate was flowing into the nearby river.“The court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on the local body to be given to the Central and state pollution control boards. It has also asked the corporation to file a performance guarantee deposit of Rs 3 crore to the board and get the waste treatment plant regularized in six months. A delay after this period will invoke a fine of Rs 1 lakh per day,” said advocate Varghese Paul, Lawyers Environmental Awareness Forum.The tribunal has given the local body six months’ time to comply with the rules and the case is posted for hearing after that period.Meanwhile, the petitioners said they welcomed the verdict as the local body has not managed the plant despite acquiring lands and clearing an entire village.“We have been fighting the case since 2007. Apart from filling the land with waste, the leachate has trickled into the water body. Under the Kadambrayar Protection Samithi, we filed a petition on the Kadambrayar river pollution along with it,” said Abdul Basheer, petitioner and resident of the panchayat.He alleged that the leachate generated from the garbage so dumped were flowing to the nearby rivers. The central pollution control board has already stated that the Brahmapuram stretch of the Kadambrayar river was one of the 150 most polluted river spots in the country.“This could soon affect the wells in the area as now they have started dumping septic waste also. One can’t even walk around in the area as it is stinking,” he said.The ‘polluter pays principle’ in the environmental law casts a serious burden on the defaulting corporation for the environmental restoration of Brahmapuram.The petition has said that the corporation has not provided a permanent leachate treatment facility as part of the existing solid waste processing plant. Presently, the leachate is flowing from the landfills. The present temporary measures are inadequate to handle the leachate, which will increase on a rainy day. The leachate frequently flows into the nearby stream and reach the adjoining water bodies of Chitrapuzha, Kadambrayar Rivers as well as the Kozhichira and Manakkathodu creeks causing severe pollution.The agencies assigned by the government to clear the waste generated after the floods have also dumped entire truckloads of waste at the site.

Stay updated with all the Latest Kochi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.