The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ambattur has a dumping yard, but only on paper

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 27, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ambattur has a dumping yard, but only on paper

J. Malarvizhi

Upshot of standoff with Avadi over Sekkadu ground

CHENNAI: Ambattur municipality has a dumping ground - but only on paper. It's the upshot of a protracted standoff with the Avadi municipality over the Sekkadu ground.

Uncertainty continues over the ownership of the 18 acres bought jointly by the two municipalities after a meeting with the Thiruvallur collector on Thursday.

Complaints

Some Avadi councillors recalled that a resolution to construct a compost yard was passed by both municipalities before complaints arose over the dumping of garbage by Ambattur in the ground that falls within Avadi limits.

When reconciliation appeared unlikely, the Collectorate denied permission to dump garbage to both municipalities last year. Councillors of both municipalities allege that Avadi garbage collection lorries continued to clandestinely dump in Sekkadu for a while.

Some even had to take loads as far as Red Hills to be disposed of wherever possible, they said.

Permission

The Avadi municipality has now been granted permission to use land in an undisclosed locality and can use its eight acres in Sekkadu. The Municipality generates 110 tonnes of garbage a day. Tenders have been given for the construction of a compost yard at Sekkadu and Municipality authorities are confident that they will buy back the land from Ambattur.

Few options

The Ambattur municipality, which generates 200 tonnes of garbage a day, has few options to fall back on. It was prevented from using a ground in Kallikuppam after residents obtained a stay on dumping. A 7-acre ground was abandoned in Athipattu after it was filled a few years ago. Now with dumping renewed at the same place, garbage is piled up several feet high and threatens to spill over to adjacent compounds.

Unacceptable

Swachatha, a private garbage collecting company, clears garbage from 25 wards. The company has also made repeated requests for space. The Municipality clears the garbage from 27 wards. Several complaints have come from residents in different areas, cleared by both, that garbage accumulation was crossing acceptable limits.

The Municipality has applied for permission to use land in the Pammadukulam panchayat, near Thirumullaivoyal. Around 44 acres of poromboke land has been identified, though the process is estimated to take six months.

Selling the land at Sekkadu to Avadi is not a concern now, sources said. Source segregation and composting, essential features of waste management, are not possible, they said.

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