Judges to visit Brahmapuram yard to inspect facilities

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas and Justice Gopinath P., who constitute a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, will visit the Brahmapuram waste dumping yard on March 6 at 3.30 p.m. to see the working of the facilities at the yard.

When a suo motu case registered in the wake of the fire at the Brahmapuram yard came up before the Bench, the judges said they would like to personally visit the area and see for themselves the functioning of the facilities there, including the fire hydrants.

Black soldier flies

The court said there should not be any delay in implementing a new plant to treat biodegradable waste using black soldier flies (BSFs). The Kochi Corporation had last month informed the court that the black soldier fly project had been awarded to two different agencies, and that the first plant would be operational by the second week of February.

The project, supposed to have been commissioned by December 2023, got delayed on account of certain technical issues, including power connection from the KSEB. When the Corporation submitted that a request for power connection was made before the KSEB, the court asked the KSEB to speed up the process for providing electricity connection.

Biomining

The Corporation also submitted that Bhumi Green Energy had started biomining the areas, and that large quantities of legacy waste had already been processed. Dedicated officials had been deputed to monitor the work of biomining.

In fact, the National Environmental Energy Research Institute (NEERI) would conduct a thirdparty audit in terms of the agreement executed between the Corporation and Bhumi Green Energy.