Highly unfortunate, says Panchayat

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vilappilsala Panchayat on Friday said that it would approach the High Court on Monday against the Lokayukta order to reopen the Vilappilsala garbage plant. Terming the verdict as ‘’highly unfortunate’’, Vilappilsala panchayat president Sobhanakumari said that the Lokayukta  was misled by the City Corporation. ‘’The Corporation apprised the Lokayukta that the plant was not posing any serious threat to the health of the residents at Vilappilsala, which is untrue. Further, the Corporation argued that there was not any resistance to the waste disposal from the residents, which again is a false claim,’’ she said.‘’The people of Vilappilasala are facing serious health hazards owing to the plant. At least six persons have died in recent times owing to respiratory diseases. The authorities should pay heed to our modest demand for survival,’’ she said. The panchayat president also said that the people of Vilappilsala are determined to face any consequences in their fight against the plant that has ruined their lives. ‘’The people of Vilappilsala, from children to the aged, are participating in this struggle. They will not allow the Corporation to dispose the waste for a single time again,’’ she said.On the attack against mediapersons at Vilappilsala the other day, she said that the incident was unfortunate. She also alleged that the Corporation was devising schemes to sabotage the agitation. Meanwhile, the order has come as a breather for the City Corporation,  which had reached a saturation point in the exercise of landfilling of garbage. It was contemplating approaching the State Government soon, when the order came on Friday. ‘’We can’t open the plant on Saturday, since the plant was locked by the Vilappil panchayat and the keys are with them. As soon as we get the order, we will consult the State Government and take the next steps to open the plant. But we need protection to operate the plant,’’ Mayor K Chandrika said.