Alappuzha: The 10-day-long strike carried out by tanker lorries and staff involved in the collection of septic tank waste here is nearing an end as the district administration has agreed to open all available Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to handle the collected waste.
In a meeting convened by District Collector Alex Varghese on Wednesday at the district collectorate, officials in charge of operating the various STPs in the district decided to utilise all available STPs to their full capacity for treating the septic waste collected by the tanker lorries.
Currently, STPs are available at NTPC, Alappuzha General Hospital, Alappuzha Medical College at Vandanam and Pallipuram Infopark. The work on the upcoming STP at Cherthala will be expedited. The timeline for the plant's completion, will be finalised within two days and submitted to the Collector.
Pass will be given to the tanker lorries to dispose of the septic tank waste at specific plants. The lorries are to dispose of the waste at the allocated STPs. A special fee may also be charged from the lorries for the services rendered. The distributions of the lorries among the present STPs and the fee amount to be collected will be finalised on Thursday.
Various officials, including Cherthala Municipality president Sherly Bhargavan, Medical College Superintendent Dr Abdul Salam, and Suchitwa Mission district coordinator K E Vinod Kumar, attended the meeting at the collectorate. The association of septic tank cleaners in the district has said they will wait until Thursday to declare the end of their 10-day-long strike officially.
"All our demands have been met. We are satisfied with the outcome. However, we will officially end the strike only when the finer details involving the distribution of the tanker lorries among the STPs and the fee involved for taking the waste are sorted out. Officials from Suchitwa Mission will contact us regarding this on Thursday. If everything goes smoothly, the strike will be over by tomorrow," said Ratheesh U V, Secretary of Septic Tank Cleaners Association, Alappuzha.
The 10-day long strike began on June 3rd, with the employees involved in the collecting of septic tank waste in the district demanding an end to the constant harassment they faced from authorities as well as local people for being forced to dispose of the waste in open places in remote areas of the district.
While STP facilities were available at NTPC, Medical College and Infopark and all were working below capacity, their services were shut to them, forcing the lorries to dispose of the waste in open places, for which they were heavily fined from time to time. Occasional tussles with local people who see them disposing of the waste also put their physical well-being at risk.
The 10-day-long strike had affected the functioning of several prominent institutions in the district, including the District General Hospital. When the situation worsened, the cleaners agreed to pump out the waste from the septic tank in the hospital as a one-time concession last Sunday.
On Tuesday, officials of the Kerala Hotels and Restaurant Association said that if the strike were to continue, 40% of the hotels in the district would have to shut down, affecting livelihoods and tourism services as well.
