No Waste Plant on Sainik School Kazhakootam Campus, Mayor Says — Councillors Call the Plan Abandoned
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📅 Nov 10, 2026
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⏱️ 5 min read
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📅 Nov 10, 2026
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⏱️ 5 min read
Last verified: 10 November 2026. The Mayor’s denial and the councillors’ statement are ✅ CONFIRMED from two independent reports — The Hindu (9 November 2026, 7:09 pm) and The New Indian Express (9 November 2026). The background on the site visit and the Defence Ministry’s role is reported by The New Indian Express.
Photo: Pexels
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.V. Rajesh has categorically denied that the city corporation has any plans to set up a waste processing plant on the campus of Sainik School, Kazhakuttam.
“The Corporation has no such plans,” the Mayor told The Hindu on 9 November 2026. The city’s health standing committee chairperson, M.R. Gopan, said the same thing to The New Indian Express: the corporation has not initiated any work on the school premises and has no plans or proposals for a waste project in such a densely populated residential area.
For parents of the school’s 600-plus cadets, that is the clearest statement yet. The row has run for a week — our earlier report covered the parents’ protest and the claim that the plan had been dropped — and the Mayor’s on-record denial is the first time the corporation has spoken this firmly.
The ward councillors of the Sainik School and Chanthavila wards, V. Sudevan Nair and Anu G. Prabha, said in a statement that the plan has been abandoned following their opposition.
Their statement, reported by The Hindu, explains how the proposal reached the campus at all. After the civic body inquired about land available with Union government institutions for waste processing, the Mayor received a letter from the Ministry of Defence asking for an assessment of feasibility. That led to the Mayor’s site visit on 4 November 2026, when a team inspected the school to judge whether a compressed biogas plant could come up on about 20 acres of its land.
The councillors say they intervened along with V. Muraleedharan, MLA, once they were convinced of the harm to students, staff and local people. “On no account would a project that put people to hardship be implemented on the school campus,” their statement said. The plan had been abandoned considering its impact on the people — and there was no reason for apprehension now or in future.
The fear was never abstract. Sainik School Kazhakootam is a residential campus: more than 600 cadets live and train there, along with teachers, non-teaching staff and their families — around 1,500 people in all, by The New Indian Express’s estimate. The institution also runs a lower primary school with over 200 students.
Parents and alumni worried about foul odour, air pollution, constant garbage-truck movement and possible groundwater contamination. Manoj P., a local resident and retired Sainik School teacher, told the paper that bringing nearly 300 tonnes of municipal waste daily into the area was completely unacceptable. Sulthana N., president of the Parents Association, said parents would be forced to pull their children out of the institution entirely if the project went ahead. Alumni associations, parent bodies and residents’ associations had decided to approach the Defence Ministry and the state government, and to launch a “Save Sainik School Kazhakootam” campaign.
The denial has not ended the politics around the issue. The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have both announced protests against the move, and the Kazhakuttam Congress mandalam committee planned a leadership discussion at Chanthavila Sainik School Junction at 4.30 pm on Tuesday, 10 November 2026. The CPI(M) area committee has also said it will join the protest.
That matters for parents for a practical reason: even a dead proposal can come back in another form, and the protest keeps the issue on the public record. The councillors’ statement is a promise, not a government order — worth welcoming, worth watching.
If your child studies at Sainik School Kazhakootam, nothing changes on campus. There is no plant, no work has started, and the corporation and the ward councillors have both said the idea is off the table. The AISSEE 2027 admission cycle — applications open until 2 December 2026, exam on 31 January 2027 — is unaffected.
What is worth doing: keep an eye on the school’s official notices and the local press over the next few weeks. If any fresh proposal appears, the parents’ association and alumni bodies have already shown they can organise fast. For now, the campus stays a school — which is the whole point.
Is a waste processing plant being built on the Sainik School Kazhakootam campus?
No. Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.V. Rajesh has categorically denied any such plan, and the ward councillors of the area say the proposal has been abandoned.
What was the proposed plant at Sainik School Kazhakootam?
The city corporation had explored setting up a compressed biogas plant on about 20 acres of school land. The Mayor visited the campus on 4 November 2026 to assess feasibility after the Ministry of Defence asked for a joint assessment.
Why did parents and alumni oppose the plant?
The campus is residential, housing more than 600 cadets plus teachers, staff and their families. Parents feared foul odour, air pollution, garbage-truck movement and possible groundwater contamination, and some said they would withdraw their children if the project went ahead.
Are protests against the plant still planned?
Yes. The Congress and the CPI(M) have announced protests, and the Kazhakuttam Congress mandalam committee planned a leadership discussion at Chanthavila Sainik School Junction at 4.30 pm on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
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