MINUTES OF THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE DISTRICT LEVELMONITORING COMMITTEE (DLMC) OF PALAKKAD DISTRICT HELD ON 25-11-2020 via GOOGLE MEET DLMC/PLKD/MNTS-5/2020 Present: 1. Sri. D. Balamurali IAS, District Collector,Palakkad 2. Sri. Vibhooshanan P .A, Deputy Collector (LR), Palakkad 3. Office of RDO, Convener, DLMC, Palakkad, 4. Sri. Krishnan M. N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State PollutionControl Board,Palakkad 5. Dr. K Remadevi, Superintendent, District Hospital, Palakkad 6. District Police Office, Palakkad, 7. Office of Sub-Collector, Ottapalam, Palakkad, District Medical Officer(Health), Palakkad, 8. District Homeopathic Medical Office, Palakkad, 9. District Medical Officer(Indian System of Medicine), Palakkad, 10. Deputy Director of Panchayat, Palakkad, 11. Secretary, District Legal Service Authority, Palakkad, 12. District Coordinator, Suchitwa Mission, Palakkad, 13. Sri. Y. Kalyanakrishnan, District Cordinator, HarithaKeralam Mission 14. Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Palakkad, 15. Executive Engineer, LSGD, District Panchayat Building, Palakkad, 16. District Officer, Animal Husbandry Department, Palakkad, 17. Deputy Director of Fisheries Department, Palakkad, 18. Superintendent, Women & Children Hospital, Palakkad, [email protected] 19. Secretary, Mannarkkad Muncipality, Mannarkkad, Palakkad – 678582, 20. Secretary, Chittur-Tathamangalam Muncipality, Chittur, Palakkad – 678101, 21. Secretary, Shornur Muncipality, Shornur, Palakkad – 679121, 22. Secretary, Ottapalam Muncipality, Ottapalam, Palakkad – 679101, 23. Secretary, Cherpulassery Muncipality, Cherpulassery, Palakkad – 679503, 24. Secretary, Pattambi Muncipality, Pattambi, Palakkad – 679303, 25. Secretary, Palakkad Muncipality, Palakkad – 678001, 26. Secretary, Vellinezhi Grama Panchayat, 27. Secretary, Sreekrishnapuram Grama Panchayat, 28. Secretary, Muthuthala Grama Panchayat, 29. Secretary, Pudur Grama Panchayat, 30. Nandan P V, Project Director, Waste to Energy Projects, KSIDC 31. Sanchu V, District Manager, Clean Kerala Company, Palakkad The 5th meeting of the District Level Monitoring Committee (DLMC) was started at 10.30 am via Google Meet application. The meeting was chaired by Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad welcomed all the members of the DLMC and other participants and started the discussion on the agenda points. Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad Before starting discussion on the agenda of the meeting it is reiterated that should be specific targets fixed in each meeting and these targets should be reviewed in the upcoming DLMC meetings. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad The Environmental Engineer (EE) started review of the follow up on resolutions passed in the 4th meeting of DLMC dated 24.02.2020 one by one. Progress of implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in each local body. Door to Door collection. Sri. Y. Kalyanakrishnan, District Cordinator, HarithaKeralam Mission Data of door to door collection of Solid waste by LSGD in Palakkad District is as follows : 18 GramaPanchayats have achieved less than 30% Door to Door collection. 19 GramaPanchayats have achieved 31-40% Door to Door collection. 26 GramaPanchayats have achieved 41-50% Door to Door collection. 7 GramaPanchayats have achieved more than 51% Door to Door collection. 7 Muncipalities have achieved more than 51 % Door to Door Collection Out of 88 Panchayats, 70 Panchayats have implemented Door to Door collection of solid waste. There are 18 Panchayats in the District where proper Door to Door collection of Solid Waste is not being carried out. (List Attached) Details of door to door collection of solid waste in Palakkad District with respect to residences and commercial establishments is as follows. 48% door to door collection of solid waste is achieved in residences which comes under Grama Panchayat. 69% door to door collection of solid waste is achieved in residences which comes under Municipality. 36% door to door collection of solid waste is achieved in commercial establishments which comes under Grama Panchayat. 81% door to door collection of solid waste is achieved in commercial establishments which comes under Municipality. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad The decision of state level meetings regarding the environmental law implementation is that there are no excuses or relaxation to be given to the local bodies in achieving and maintaining 100% door to door collection of Solid Waste. It was reported that all seven municipalities have achieved more than 51% door to door collection of Solid Waste. Certain Grama Panchayats lag behind in achieving door to door collection and requested DDP(Deputy Director of Panchayats) to comment on this. Junior Superintendent, DDP Out of 88 panchayats, total of 61MCF is operational. Out of 1498 wards , 1078 wards are covered partially or fully.in Door to Door collection of Solid Waste . Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad Asked to explain the reason for poor implementation. Enquired about the issues faced by the local bodies in implementing door to door collection in all wards. Junior Superintendent, DDP Due to outbreak of COVID-19 there has been marginable reduction in functioning of Haritha Karma Sena(HKS) for Door to Door waste collection. Out of 88 panchayats only 70 panchayats has supplied safety measures like gloves, face mask for the Haritha Karma Sena workers. Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad Instructed DDP to submit the list of panchayats who is not providing safety equipment for the HKS workers for reporting to Principal Secretary,LSGD for initiating action against those panchayat secretaries. Asked Pollution Control Board whether any notices issued against Secretaries of Municipality/Panchayat for violation under Environmental Laws. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad Reported that in light of NGT orders it is more convenient to issue notice for environmental compensation against the Offenders under environmental law. Sri. Y. Kalyanakrishnan, District Cordinator, HarithaKeralam Mission Pirayiri,Kuzhalmannam,Kottayi,Puthucode,Pattanchery,Vadavannur,Lakkidi, Perur, Anakkara,Thiruvegapura,Sholayur,Kumaramputhur,Vallapuzha,Thenkara, are the Grama Panchayats which have failed to implement Door to Door collection of solid waste, forming Haritha Karma Sena or providing safety measures for HKS. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad. Stated that notice will be issued to Secretaries of these Grama Panchayats asking to report the percentage of implementation with respect to D2D, MCF and PPE Kits and, if unsatisfactory, Environmental Compensation will be imposed for non – compliance of Rules in light of NGT Orders. Secretary, CherpulasseryMuncipality In the case of Door to Door collection of solid waste the municipality is finding it difficulty to give wages for HKS because user fee is not paid properly. Users (residents) claim that they couldn’t pay due to COVID caused financial constraints. Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad Instructed that being a legislative body Municipality can create by law or amend bylaw to ensure that people are falling in line of environmental laws. Tax collection in the state is back to normal and fact is that GST Collection for last two months is comparable with last year’s GST Collection , hence these excuses from public that they have financial constraints even now due to COVID-19 pandemic is not acceptable. Door to Door collection is LSGD’s fundamental and sovereign duty hence it has to be done. Dr. K Remadevi, Superintendent, District Hospital,Palakkad Stated that general segregated solid waste and plastic waste of District Hospital is not t collected by the Palakkad municipality periodically. District Hospital was recently forced to pay an authorised private agency to collect the segregated solid waste, which was piled up due to delay in collection from Palakkad municipality. Health Supervisor,Palakkad Municipality Stated the earlier, once, Biomedical Waste was found mixed with the general waste collected from the District Hospital(DH) and issue arose in the RRF of Palakkad municipality which is situated in KodumbuPanchayat and there was strong opinion from KodumbuPanchayat that the waste from District Hospital should not be brought to the RRF. Due to this reason, that temporarily waste from DH is not collected. Sri D. Balamurali, District Collector, Palakkad Instructed that since the Palakkad Municipality is not having sufficient resources to collect wastes from Palakkad municipal area itself and is struggling to manage the waste, proper segregation should be ensured by District Hospital. Mixing any biomedical waste in solid waste cannot be accepted at all. Collection of segregated solid waste alone from DH by Municipality should be reinstated at the earliest. 2(ii) Management of wet waste. Sri Krishnan M.N, Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Palakkad. Based on the primary information available for the Pollution Control Board it is known that the wet waste generated is not collected by the LSGDs and it is managed at the source itself. For generators (residences , commercial establishments) which don’t have sufficient and space to manage wet waste generated, it is the responsibility of concerned local