STP issue: apartment complex tells PCB it does not come under board’s purview

The apartment complex located at Gandhinagar Housing Colony, Kadavanthra, that received power disconnection notice from the Kerala State Electricity Board for not having sewage treatment plant (STP) has stated that it does not come under the consent purview of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board.

The apartment complex had figured among the 71 complexes that had come under the scanner of the board for not having STP as per the norms.

In their reply dated October 11, 2025, representatives of Mayura Apartments at 3rd Cross Road, Gandhi Nagar Housing Colony, Kadavanthra, pointed out that only high-rise buildings and residential apartments having a built-up area of 2000 sq m or more were required to obtain consent as per a circular issued by the board on April 22, 2010. The apartment, as per the building plan approved by the Kochi Corporation, had a built-up area of only 1335.10 sq m, it said.

The apartment, with 12 units, was constructed 27 years ago on a plot of 27 cents. The complex has maintained adequate facilities for liquid waste treatment, with wastewater being channelled through an internal drainage system to an underground soak pit and thereafter to the municipal drainage of the Kochi Corporation, the reply stated. The association said that it was not feasible to install a modern sewage treatment plant in view of the lack of space and the limited number of occupants.