New Delhi: Residents of Sukhdev Vihar in south-Delhi notched up a big victory on Tuesday after Delhi high court ordered shifting of a bio-medical waste treatment plant situated 30m from the colony.

Seeing merit in the plea of the residents that proximity of the plant posed a health hazard, a division bench comprising Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain gave six months time to the Delhi government to identify an alternative site and finish relocation. It also permitted the present private firm handling the plant to continue operations for six months till the plant is relocated.

As part of its Green City mission for the year 2013, the Corporation is planning to relaunch its plan to impose a ban on plastic below 50 microns. Though the civic body had launched a similar initiative last year following the High court order, it failed to implement the plan successfully.

Learning from the past experience, the authorities are planning to organise a one-month-long campaign before bringing into effect the plastic ban from February 15.

The fire at the Sada garbage dump in Vasco and the subsequent smoke rising from the site has inconvenienced residents of the area.

Refuse piles up by roadsides as government and Corporation slug it out

On December 20, 2011, when the last truckloads of garbage from the capital city rolled into the solid waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala, not many in the city thought that the next day would be any different. Harsh reality dawned the next morning. The city could not longer ‘export’ its garbage. A year later, most of the high-rises in the city have their own solid-waste treatment systems, thousands of houses have a pipe-compost facility, five schools in the city have a biogas plant each, and even the headquarters of the city Corporation will have a biogas plant up and running in less than two weeks. That is the sunny side of the story.

Margao Municipal Council’s solid waste management plant finally stands commissioned at Sonsodo. Open dumping of waste is now a thing of the past. But, the civic body has a long way to go in tackling tons of waste generated in the commercial capital, reports Guilherme Almeida

After a bitter experience with Komex International and Hyquip Ltd, Margao Municipal Council’s solid waste treatment plant has finally taken shape at Sonsodo. Fomento Green has commissioned its waste treatment plant at the site as per the concession agreement with the Margao civic body. But, a host of issues remain unresolved, including door-to-door waste collection, landfill site for the residual waste, capping of existing waste, consultant to certify work at the plant and to guide the civic body in signing the modified agreement with Fomento Green.

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Monday, directed the State government and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to give it a list of the issues relating to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant which could be gone into by the expert committee proposed by it.

The Bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A.M. Shaffique adjourned the case to January 2. The court declined the plea of the Vilappilsala Janakeeya Samara Samithi against the constitution of an expert committee.

PONDA: Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho has stated that he has initiated steps to set up garbage treatment plant similar to that of Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) in Dabolim constituency.

VASCO: Spelling out her priorities for the port town, newly elected Mormugao Municipal Council Chairperson Fiola Rego said she wants to get the solid waste management plant functioning at Headland-Sada to minimise garbage accumulated in Vasco.

“The MMC, through the intervention of Vasco MLA and KTC Chairman Carlos Almeida, has requested the government to grant a fund of Rs 3.75 crore to start the garbage treatment plant. The council has already appointed a consultant and is capable of treating garbage by December if we receive the required grants from the government,” said Rego.

Punyam Poonkavanom, Orumudikkettu to keep forest environs serene

The devotees, staff on duty, and every person visiting Sabarimala is bound to keep the hillock clean and protect the serene forest environs of the sacred grove, says P. Vijayan, City Police Commissioner of Thrissur, who has been posted as the Police Special Officer at Sabarimala. Mr. Vijayan, who had successfully implemented the ‘Punyam Poonkavanom’ cleaning drive, making the devotees and the staff an integral part of the daily cleaning drive at the Sannidhanam, has re-launched the project this time too, with added vigour.