The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Garbage piles up in the suburbs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Garbage piles up in the suburbs

K. Manikandan

Plan for modern compost yard near Vandalur makes little headway The consent for the site at Venkatamangalam was obtained after long procedural delays and inspections

TAMBARAM: At a time when even village panchayats are taking the lead in implementing earnest measures to beautify their areas through source segregation, the three major municipalities in the southern suburbs - Tambaram, Pallavaram and Alandur - continue to face growing piles of garbage.

The reason: the lack of progress on the proposed Rs. 2.1 crore integrated modern compost yard at Venkatamangalam near Vandalur for these Municipalities.

Work on the 50 acre site - bought with equal contribution from the three Municipalities - began in June last year, but soon came to a halt following protests from residents in the vicinity over land acquisition and also from the Indian Air Force Base in Tambaram who voiced concerns on safety to their flights on the ground that the compost yard once completed might attract birds.

The local bodies have not even gone ahead full steam in implementing source segregation of garbage pointing to the delay in the completion of the compost yard. Once completed, the yard would be able to handle all the 180 tonnes of waste generated daily in the three local bodies. The yard's urgent necessity was felt in all the three local bodies as the existing ones in Alandur and Tambaram were bursting at its seams and Pallavaram never had a full fledged yard on its own.

The consent for the site at Venkatamangalam was obtained after long procedural delays and inspections, and once sanction was accorded, came the IAF's concerns and protests from residents of areas adjacent to the proposed yard site, who even squatted on the road and blocked traffic once to vent their ire.

With nowhere else to dump the garbage, the local bodies literally brush the dust under the carpet and dispose them on whichever vacant space they can find.

In many places in the three local bodies, open spaces are used for dumping and the garbage is burnt. The compound wall at the Kannadapalayam yard of Tambaram Municipality was raised to accommodate more garbage, but that had not solved the problem. Similar is the problem at Alandur, whose yard is located on the Velachery Main Road adjacent to the Pallikaranai marsh.

Activists fear that the problem of garbage disposal is worsening by the day and say the government agencies should expedite the completion of the project. Officials said most of the issues had been addressed to and hoped that work should begin from next week.

A pressing issue is the relocation of families staying in about 60 huts and pucca houses. However officials said problems relating to land acquisition; and fears of residents and concerns of the IAF were sorted out, as the yard would be a modern facility causing no inconvenience either to the residents or threat to the environment.

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