Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has dropped its proposal to establish a compressed biogas plant at Sainik School Kazhakootam after protests from parents, alumni and nearby residents, while keeping open the possibility of a separate centralised waste-treatment facility for the city.
Mayor V V Rajesh told The Times of India that the civic body had no immediate plans to pursue the project at the school. “We have no such plans in Kazhakkoottam. We will continue the decentralised plan. However, we are not dropping the centralised treatment plant proposal,” he said.
The proposal involved seeking about 20 acres of land on the school campus for a waste-to-energy facility to be developed with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. In a letter dated June 6, 2026, the mayor had requested the Union Ministry of Defence to allot the land for the project.
The ministry’s Sainik Schools Cell responded on November 3, informing the mayor that the proposal had been examined. It said officials from the school and the corporation would conduct a joint field assessment to examine the feasibility of the project. A copy of the communication was sent to the school principal, who was asked to coordinate with corporation officials and give the exercise priority.
A corporation team led by the mayor visited the campus on November 5 to assess the possibility of establishing the facility. The reported plan to use a substantial portion of the campus triggered opposition from parents, former students and residents, who questioned whether a large-scale waste-processing facility was suitable inside a residential educational institution.
Parents raised concerns about the movement of garbage-carrying vehicles and the presence of outside personnel near the campus. More than 600 cadets reside at the school. They also cited possible health and environmental risks, including foul odour, air and water pollution, and increased flies and mosquitoes. Banarji Bhaskaran, a parent, said the plant could create health problems for students because the school is residential.
Manoj P, a former teacher and nearby resident, said local residents would not allow the corporation to establish a waste-treatment plant at the site. Former students also opposed the proposal, arguing that the institution, which has operated under the Defence Ministry since 1962, should not be considered for a municipal waste-processing facility.
The school authorities declined to comment, citing defence rules. The Defence Ministry’s communication, as reported, therefore remains the latest documented step in the proposal’s examination, while the corporation has now stated that it will not pursue the facility at Kazhakootam.
The decision comes as the corporation examines ways to manage the capital’s growing organic-waste burden. It had earlier considered a centralised compressed biogas plant in partnership with BPCL, drawing on the model of the facility at Brahmapuram in Kochi. The mayor has said that the centralised treatment proposal remains under consideration, while the decentralised waste-management plan will continue.
