KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Friday ordered for an audit at Brahmapuram plant by a committee of high-ranking officers within 24 hours to understand the damage to the environment, conformity of the plant with the rules, and the efficiency of the plant.
The court also asked the Ernakulam district collector to explore means to prevent spreading of the smoke.
Considering a PIL (WP-C No. 7844/23) registered suo motu by the high court on the basis of a letter written by justice Devan Ramachandran to the chief justice, a division bench comprising justices SV Bhatti and Basant Balaji on Friday also directed for resuming collection of solid waste in Kochi and to explore handling it at the facilities in the surrounding regions.
The additional chief secretary of Local Self Government Department and Kochi Corporation secretary were also directed by the court to explore viable, alternative, long-lasting solutions to handle solid waste in Kochi and to inform a decision in 10 days if possible.
During the hearing during the afternoon session of the court on Friday, the bench pointed out that the fire at Brahmapuram has become national news now and said it is because the crisis plan was made without following the guidelines. “Is the present state of affairs a product of contributory negligence? None is an exception. It is only a matter of percentage of contribution by one and all. Kochi should have been a smart city, is rendered an unclean city,” the court said while stating that the effort now should be to make it a clean city.
Asking the Ernakulam district collector as to what action is being proposed, the court said it cannot allow people to be exposed to the smoke perpetually. The court asked why the administration is taking so much time to put out the fire and cited the example of Vishakhapatnam’s recovery after Cyclone Hudhud, in which basic services were restored within five to seven days. The court asked the collector to make a requisition as per provisions of Disaster Management Act so that experts from outside the state can help in developing the action plan.
The court further asked whether there was contributory negligence at Brahmapuram and said the city is taking so much time to turn around from bad to good. “The reason is we want to forget about this problem after the atmosphere becomes clear. This time we’re not going to forget at all,” the bench said. Citing the example of Hyderabad, the court said they had 90,000 metric tonnes of hazardous waste and could find a solution in six months.
Prosecuting officials who fail to act is the only way forward, the court said while noticing that the National Green Tribunal’s order of 2018, to ensure that Brahmapuram plant complies with rules, has not been acted yet. “Don’t test our endurance. Even if 30 per cent of what has been stated before the NGT had happened, we would not be seeing such a bad position,” the court said while deciding to dismiss Kochi Corporation’s appeal challenging a fine of Rs1 crore imposed by the NGT. “If things keep moving in the same manner, anything happens to environment and human life, Kochi Corporation will be exposing itself to greater risk and danger from this court,” the court said.
Justice Bhatti said he and justice Basant had to leave the courtroom in the forenoon session on Friday and had go to the chambers as they and staff members in the room developed headaches during the hearing. “This is 9th day from the day on which the incident has happened,” justice Bhatti said. The Kochi Corporation secretary submitted, “Fire has been completely extinguished, sir.” The judge said he would like to see a video of it by making a WhatsApp video call to someone at the site. Simmering smoke won’t come unless there is fire, the judge added. Out of the eight sectors, six sectors have been completed extinguished and work is going on at the rest two sectors, the secretary then submitted. The judge said smoke can be seen by looking out from his seat at the courtroom and that the density is also increasing. “How long people would have to continue like this?” the judge asked. The secretary submitted that the timeline of putting out the fire within two days is being extended by the fire department. The court said the court has faith in the officer’s ability to implement the solid waste management rules in the city but as the incident at Brahmapuram has happened, there should be an inspection by a committee. The court will hear the case again on Monday.
