State machinery takes over rescue mission at Brahmapuram
The Hindu
KOCHI
With the large-scale blaze at Brahmapuram putting the Kochi Corporation on the backfoot, the State government has taken over firefighting measures at the waste treatment plant site.
While the State Chief Secretary reviewed the rescue mission from the State capital on Sunday, three Ministers, P. Rajeeve, M.B. Rajesh and Veena George, arrived in Kochi on the day to review the steps taken on ground.
The Kochi Corporation, which owns and operates the waste treatment plant, had no role in the rescue mission and efforts to control the impact of fire.
Fire-tenders numbering 32, drawn from different parts of the district, were pressed into action and various agencies joined the operation. Floating excavators were deployed to de-silt the Kadambrayar river, from which water was drawn for fire-control operations. Water from the lake inside the FACT campus would be used if required, it was decided at the meeting convened by the ministers.
The meeting decided to put the District Collector in charge of the interim measures for processing the waste till the Brahmapuram site became accessible to vehicles. The local body would make the road to the plant site navigable once the issues related to the fire outbreak were settled, the meeting decided.
It was also decided to constitute a coordination committee to intervene in the event of another fire at the site. Representatives of the Kochi Corporation, the District Fire Officer, officials from Police and Health departments, the Disaster Management Authority, representatives of the Vadavucode-Puthencruz panchayat, BPCL Kochi Refinery, Cochin International Airport and Kerala State Electricity Board will be part of the committee.
A facility for spraying water over the plastic waste will be undertaken. A meeting, to be chaired by Mr. Rajesh, would look into complaints regarding bio-mining, the meeting decided.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.