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Kochi has become a ‘gas chamber’ due to smoke generated by fire at Brahmapuram waste plant: Kerala HC

The court directed the Kochi Corporation, the Pollution Control Board and the government to submit a detailed report containing concrete solutions to the garbage problem on Tuesday.

Kochi has become a ‘gas chamber’ due to smoke generated by fire at Brahmapuram waste plant: Kerala HC

[File Photo]

As plumes of smoke continued to billow from Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi for the sixth day, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday took a suo motu case on the outbreak of fire at the waste dumping yard.

Justice Devan Ramachandran had written to Chief Justice S Manikumar requesting the court to intervene in the matter. Following this the court then took a suo motu case in the matter.

A division bench comprising Justice SV Bhatti and Justice Basant Balaji on Tuesday rapped the  authorities responsible for the outbreak of the fire in Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi.

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The court said the situation in Kochi is like being trapped in a gas chamber and said that the guilty officers be foundThe court observed that there is heavy smoke in Kochi’s Kadavanthra, Kaloor and Vyttila areas Tuesday morning as well.

The High Court said that the guilty officials should be punished and that the Pollution Control Board had failed to fulfil its responsibility

The court asked the officials whether the recent fire at the Brahmapuram waste dumping yard was man-made. The court directed the Ernakulam district collector, the chairman of the pollution control board and the Kochi Corporation secretary  to appear before the court at 1.45 pm on Tuesday.

The court directed the Kochi Corporation, the Pollution Control Board and the government to submit a detailed report containing concrete solutions to the garbage problem on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the dumpyard caught fire. Following the rigorous efforts of hundreds of Fire and Rescue Services personnel, the Navy, and other agencies, the fire was brought under control on Sunday evening, but the fumes continued to rise from the site. Kochi and its surroundings are still being choked by smoke.

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