as long as it remained a hit-and-run campaign, the "clean city, green city' programme of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation offended nobody. But a rural-urban conflict has arisen after a plant to handle solid waste from the state capital was set up at Vilappilsala in Vilappil Gram Panchayat (Vilappil village council). The state government and the city corporation are on one side, the panchayat on the other. The Kerala High Court is hearing a public interest petition seeking closure of the plant.

"Why should the entire city's waste be dumped on our village,'' ask the people of Vilappil. On October 20, the panchayat requested the state government to close down and remove the biofertiliser factory of Poabs Envirotech (Pvt) Ltd. They said the plant poses a serious threat to the residents' wellbeing, pollutes waterbodies, and causes the spread of diseases and a foul, unbearable stench.

The city's leaders have different views. "The wastes are not from city dwellers only,' retorts J Chandra, the city's mayor. Hundreds of thousands of people from the villages visit the hospitals, markets and marriage halls of the city everyday, and the vegetables brought from the villages are a major source of pollution, she insists. The city's Mythri Nagar Residents' Association ( mnra ) echoes the mayor's views.

The decision to set up the plant was based on the recommendations of a Supreme Court committee on solid waste management. As a national waste management policy, it recommended separation of