Kerala HC asks govt to conduct study on Brahmapuram legacy waste for road construction

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday asked if the state government could conduct an expert study on legacy waste at Brahmapuram to see if it can be used for road construction.

According to the Ernakulam District Collector N.S.K Umesh, seven lakh tonnes of legacy waste is lying at Brahmapuram, which hogged the media headlines after a fire broke out and raged for a few days before it was contained.

The high court had initiated suo moto proceedings in the matter and the state had asked the presiding bench to constitute a Special Bench for the consideration of issues relating to Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Accordingly, a special bench comprising Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas and Justice P. Gopinath took up the matter Friday, which orally asked the state government to conduct the study.

The District Collector also apprised the court of progress in the socio-economic health impact assessment study.

The court was informed that a committee is already formed, institutions have been identified, questionnaires are being prepared and a survey will be conducted soon. The court ordered to submit the report when the study is completed.

Further, the court examined the scope of bio-mining of legacy waste for land reclamation at Brahmapuram. Regarding the setting up of bio-mining at Brahmapuram, the court was informed that tenders have been invited from contractors.

The court also enquired if there is seepage of water into the wells from the legacy waste lying at Brahmapuram, and the officials informed that steps have already been taken to prevent seepage.

The court pointed out that they will continue monitoring this issue and said that necessary statements and reports be filed and posted the case to August 18.

With inputs from IANS