Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened an emergency high-level meeting on Wednesday to discuss the fire at Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi. Among the major decisions taken at the meeting was to stop taking plastic waste to Brahmapuram. It was also decided to issue instructions to process waste at the source.

Another decision of the meeting was to repair the windrow composting system at Brahmapuram on a war-footing to process biodegradable waste. The roads to the waste treatment plant too will be repaired.

A public campaign would be conducted in Kochi to create awareness among residents on waste management. The Chief Minister said that meetings should be held by Ministers concerned, Kochi Mayor and other people’s representatives prior to this campaign.

District administration’s efforts
Officials who took part in Wednesday’s meeting said that urgent measures were implemented to douse the fire at Brahmapuram and control the smoke. The District Collector explained the steps taken by the administration after the fire was reported at 4.30 pm on March 2. Units of the Fire and Rescue Services and police teams rushed to the spot immediately and launched efforts to douse the blaze, said the Collector.

The incident at Brahmapuram was smouldering caused by natural degradation of garbage, claimed the Collector. But, as the summer is peaking in the state, the fire became intense, the Collector explained.

Apart from Fire and Rescue, the services of Indian Navy and Indian Air Force were also sought to douse the fire, the Collector added.

The fire has now been completely controlled, said the Collector. However, the garbage is still smouldering and smoke spreading to areas around the plant.

Currently, efforts are on to churn the heaps of garbage with earthmovers and pump water into it, in order to prevent the emission of smoke. Over 30 fire engines and three pump sets having high capacity brought from Alappuzha are engaged in this task. Around 60,000 litres of water is being pumped into the area per minute, informed the Collector.

The district administration is coordinating the fire-fighting effort involving 300 Fire and Rescue personnel, 70 other workers, around 50 Hitachi/JCB operators, 31 fire units, four helicopters and 14 high-pressure pumps.

Participants
Those who took part in the high-level meeting included Ministers P Rajeev, M B Rajesh and Veena George; Kochi Mayor M Anil Kumar; Chief Secretary Dr V P Joy; Additional Chief Secretaries Dr V Venu and Sarada Muraleedharan; State Police Chief Anil Kanth; Director of Fire and Rescue Services B Sandhya, the District Collector and officers of Fire and Rescue, Indian Navy, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority and Pollution Control Board.