A writ petition was filed on Monday before the Kerala High Court seeking directive to the State government to conduct an inquiry into the fire that broke out at Brahmapuram waste treatment plant and also seeking another directive to the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to file a report on the present condition at the site.
Meanwhile, Justice Devan Ramachandran wrote a letter to the Chief Justice seeking to initiate a suo moto case in connection with the incident.
The petition, filed by a resident from Vyttila, also sought to call for the entire records from the PCB relating to awarding contract of biomining to a Bengaluru-based firm and also the inquiry reports on 18 fire breakouts at the plant. The petitioner alleged that the firm was not qualified to undertake the contract and it was due to its lapse that the fire had broken out.
The petition also sought a directive to the State government to frame necessary welfare schemes to deal with health hazards caused to the general public from the foul smell coming from the smouldering waste.
The petitioner pointed out that every year fire would breakout at the plant and the corporation would spend crores of rupees for putting it and solving the resultant health hazards of the people.
The State government and the corporation had experimented different methods to remove the huge pile of waste dumped at the plant, but they could not arrive at a proper method. There were allegations that the waste was set on fire deliberately.
The petitioner pointed out that despite various incidents of fire breakout at the plant, the PCB had not conducted a property study as to the cause of fires. Besides, the corporation health officials remained as a mute spectator without discharging duties.
