Brahmapuram fire | People begin to lose patience as fresh bouts of smoke and smell hit many parts of city

People are also dismissive about the blame game between the present and former mayors on who is responsible for the fiasco

From his 21st floor-apartment in Chittethukara not so far away from the Brahmapuram plant where tonnes of plastic garbage heaps continue to smoulder for the last one week, Dinesh Neelankandan, a script writer, could see a thick film of smoke suspended midair in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

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The sight was enough for him to decide against sending his two children to school for the day though the district administration hasn’t declared a holiday. The decision proved right as the school dismissed the classes midway through later in the day as the environment wasn’t fit enough to keep children in classrooms.

“At least three families in our apartment left for their native places on Wednesday as they found the situation suffocating. The smoke and smell of burnt plastic in the air is so pungent for us to ignore,” said Mr. Neelakandan.

Many places in the city experienced fresh bouts of smoke and suffocating smell of plastic on Tuesday late night and early morning hours of Wednesday much to the chagrin of the public.

Liyons Jos, a resident of Anchumana near Palarivattom, moaned how the smoke and smell infiltrated into their home and left his four-year-old daughter literally sick. “She was already on medication for cough and it just worsened her condition and left her vomiting profusely. The situation wasn’t any different around 3 a.m. till which time we stayed up tending to our daughter,” he said.

The area near Palarivattom flyover was literally a no visibility-zone thanks to the smoke with similar complaints being reported from various places including Tripunithura, Vennala, Kakkanad, and Edappally.