The Hindu : Garbage dumping along Ennore Expressway hits residents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Garbage dumping along Ennore Expressway hits residents

By Swahilya

CHENNAI, MARCH 21. Sea erosion may be a problem for residents living along the Ennore Expressway during monsoon, but dumping of garbage from the Tiruvottriyur and Kathivakkam municipalities and releasing of raw sewage into the Bay of Bengal at Talankuppam have been affecting them throughout the year.

Initially, authorities of the two municipalities allowed dumping of garbage alongside boulders stacked to prevent seawater intrusion to a limited extent. But the site has now become a full-fledged transit dumping station.Whenever the garbage is set on fire, the smoke spreads thickly across the Ennore Expressway like a screen, hampering the view of vehicle users and leading to many road accidents.

N. Pandian of Kamarajar Nagar, Ernavoor, said a mini-van carrying vegetables overturned because of poor visibility caused by thick smoke from a garbage dump near the Ernavoor church. "In this area, neither is there public awareness about health and public sanitation nor do the municipalities care about providing them," he said. Residents, especially, slum dwellers, cannot escape the nauseating odour from the dump. Along with raw sewage emptied from municipal tankers, un-segregated garbage, which includes non-biodegradable plastic wastes, is also fed directly into the Bay of Bengal.

The Kathivakkam and Tiruvottriyur municipalities have been demanding a common dumping ground with a waste treatment and composting area near Sattangadu and Periyakuppam for a long time now, but nothing has materialised, said K. Kandan, former member of the Kathivakkam Municipal Council from Sathyavanimuthu Nagar.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board served a notice last year to the Tiruvottriyur Municipality restraining it from dumping garbage in unauthorised sites. Environmentalists say the solution to the problem of waste disposal hinges on source segregation of waste, which must be taken up immediately. Associations of residents from apartment complexes and resident welfare associations from neighbourhood should take up source segregation and composting of waste.

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