Canal clean up Provisions of Disaster Management Act will be invoked Minister tells railways

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 15 (PTI) The Kerala government on Monday blamed the Southern Railway for refusing to cooperate with the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation in cleaning up a canal, which, according to the government, led to large waste accumulation in the canal where a sanitation worker drowned on July 13 while engaged in the cleaning operation.

State Minister for Local Administration, M B Rajesh said the railway time and again refused to cooperate with the city corporation, despite giving several notices to clean up the Amayizhanjan Canal within its premises.

The railways deployed the workers only after the Corporation served them a notice in June informing them that prosecution proceedings would be initiated if they did not comply.

Hours after the body of sanitation worker Joy, who went missing two days ago while cleaning the canal filled with filth and waste, was found amidst intense search operations, the minister said if the railway continues with non-cooperation, the provisions of the Disaster Management Act will be invoked to take action.

In a press conference here, the minister maintained that he was not blaming the Railways but wanted to let the people know what exactly transpired, as the opposition and former Central ministers have been trying to put all blame on the government following the drowning of Joy, who died while cleaning the garbage from the canal inside Railway premises.

He also severely criticised opposition leaders including Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheeshan for their statements accusing the state government of being responsible for Joy's death, saying that many were trying to gain political mileage out of a tragedy.

"Those who used tragedy to score political goals should think about whether it is ideal for a civilised society to do such things. Everyone is responsible for these kinds of incidents. A collective effort is needed to solve the issue of open waste dumping. Waste is not coming from space," the minister said.

Satheesan had stated that Joy was a victim of a failed government system.

Criticising the railway for not cooperating with the corporation in cleaning up the canal, Rajesh said that the railway acted only on the final notice from the civic body.

"Railway used the Railway Act to stop us from doing anything within the railway premises. We had requested a joint meeting, and after two notices, a meeting was held under the chair of the Additional Chief Secretary, but none of the senior railway officials attended. We had even given a 20-point action plan for the railway to implement," the minister said.

He said even the Kerala High Court had criticised Railways for their failure in solid waste management, calling it a 'bulk waste generator'.

Rajesh, calling for joint action to find a permanent solution, said that stringent actions are going to follow against those who throw waste in the open.

"The government has been doing several things to address the issue of solid waste management and could make huge progress following the Brahmapuram garbage plant fire. Even the High Court has appreciated this. We are not claiming everything has been done, but we are on the right track," the minister said.

He said special focus is going to be given to Thiruvananthapuram, and in another six months, there will be a visible change in open waste disposal.

Rajesh detailed the efforts of the state government in solid waste management and said collection of waste from the houses had gone up from 47 per cent to 86.64 per cent in just one year and the facilities to process the collected waste have gone up several fold.

The enforcement has also improved considerably, and the fines collected from violators have gone up from Rs. 2.8 lakhs to Rs 4.57 crores in one year.

He said the government has decided to install waste bins based on the population of the area and in one year, 1.6 plus lakh bins have been installed, where there were none.

Joy, a temporary cleaning worker employed by a railway contractor, went missing while clearing the waste-filled canal criss-crossing through the heart of the capital city on Saturday.

He and two other workers were engaged in cleaning the Thampanoor part of the canal near the railway station when the water flow increased due to heavy rainfall, sweeping him into a 200-metre-long tunnel below the tracks of the platform at the central railway station.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)