The toxic fumes from the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant have been haunting Kochi for the past two weeks. While social workers, activists and celebrities have condemned the fire and the subsequent flames caused by the unscientific mismanagement of waste, a documentary, directed by a techie four years ago, about Kerala’s largest dumping yard, has grabbed the eyeballs. Actor Neeraj Madhav also shared the documentary on his social media page recently.
The documentary titled ‘Wiped Out’ carries raw visuals that were captured from Brahmapuram and exposes the real face of Kochi’s waste management. Director Mahesh Maanas is worried about the damage that the recent fire has caused to Kochi’s ecosystem and adds that official apathy and people’s unawareness have left the city gasping for breath.
According to Mahesh, the 19-minute documentary did rounds at various schools and residents' associations in Kochi. “That was our intention. We wanted to generate enough awareness among people about the negative impact such a landfill would have in Kochi. When we went to capture the raw visuals four years ago, we were aghast by the mountain dumps of waste. No treatment or segregation was happening at the plant. We were sure these piles of waste would create a health hazard one day since it was just being dumped in the open, susceptible to fire,” says Mahesh.
According to him, the situation at the waste plant would get worse during the rains. “We shot this documentary over a long period of time, talking to different people and those who were displaced from their land. So, we would go to the waste plant every now and then. We captured some raw images during the rains. We could not demarcate between the river bed and the waste dumpyard plant. The waste would flow into the river damaging our natural resources too,” he said, adding that many of the raw visuals were captured using hidden cameras. “We had the support of the local residents and leaders,and that's how we got the footage,” he added.
The makers spoke to several people who were displaced from their homes several years ago, when Brahmapuram was converted into a dumping yard. In the documentary, an old woman narrates how they would drink water from the Kadambrayar near the Brahmapuram plant. “The water then was very clear and we would drink directly from the river on our way to school,” says the old lady. This is in stark contrast to the situation today, where the Kadambrayar has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Mahesh says the damage cannot be reversed anymore. “We feared the fire and the negative impact it would cause on our environment. Now, that the worst has happened, the only thing we need to focus on, is how to manage waste at source. We cannot avoid plastic completely, but the least we can do is minimise it’s use,” he says.
