Brahmapuram waste plant fire: BJP calls it scam, demands CBI, ED enquiry
Apr 13, 2023
Kochi (Kerala) [India], April 13 : Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hit out at the Communist Party of India-Marxist led-LDF government over the Brahmapuram waste plant fire incident here, calling it a case of "corruption" and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) enquiry into the matter.
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar also alleged that none of the directions issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under section five of the Environment Protection Act has been implemented. The directions of the NGT also haven't been implemented at the Brahmapuram waste plant.
Addressing the press conference, the BJP leader said, "What we are seeing in Brahmapuram is shocking. At Brahmapuram, we found out that there is no plant, no processing going on, no biomining is operational in real sense and the windrow composting plant has sunk in the marshy lands of the flood plain of the rivulet Kadambrayar".
"This is utter disregard of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and is a monumental failure of the state government," he added.
The former union minister further said that the state government has "failed" completely and they did "nothing" for its people.
"People have complained that there is no remediation. Thousands of people have been shifted. The Collector and others violated the rules. The Chief Minister and the state government have actually defrauded the citizens of Kochi. LDF has failed the citizens of Kochi as it turned out to be a huge scam like many other corruption scandals of the LDF Government," he said.
Javadekar put forward a series of questions to the LDF government regarding the fire incident.
"The first question is why the government did not file a criminal FIR against Zonta Infratech Pvt Ltd, the biomining company at Brahmapuram. The second question is why instead of filing the complaint it extended the contract with the company. Third, why did the CM meet the managing team of Zonta many times, even when he visited the Netherlands? Fourth, does the State Government know that a complaint has been registered against the owner of Zonta in Bengaluru and he is on the run? Fifth, what was the role of former Chief Secretary, Tom Jose in the matter?," he asked.
Calling the whole fire incident a matter of "corruption", BJP demanded an investigation into the matter by CBI and ED.
"What has happened is corruption scam of LDF govt. There are allegations of scam after scam against CM. He must answer. What is the LDF's identity in Kerala? Lottery, drugs, liquor, smuggling etc. This is a close and shut case of corruption. We are demanding a CBI enquiry into this. As it is a multi-state and multi-crore scam, we demand ED enquiry," he added.
