The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Panchayats and a problem of tackling waste

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Panchayats and a problem of tackling waste

K. Manikandan

Resource-poor civic bodies in southern suburbs using vacant land to burn garbage

IN DISUSE: A shed built under a solid waste management scheme in Medavakkam near Tambaram. — Photo : K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM: Every bit of vacant land in several panchayats round here is turning into a garbage dump. Cremation and burial grounds, lakes, tanks, parks and open spaces: nothing is spared; they are all becoming convenient spots for rural local bodies to dump and burn garbage.

The junction at Medavakkam near Tambaram is one such spot that has been turned into a dump where garbage burns almost non-stop. Another convenient dump yard is an abandoned quarry in the locality.

Medavakkam, a constituent of the St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union in Kancheepuram district, has a population of about 30,000. Located at the junction of roads leading to Sholinganallur, Velachery and Tambaram, it is an important commercial hub where more garbage is generated, compared to adjoining villages.

According to panchayat staff, the village generates about 20 tonnes of garbage everyday, about one-third of the average quantity of garbage produced in a municipality and three times that generated by a village.

Continuous burning of waste poses health hazards to residents and motorists using the Medavakkam Main Road.

But there is little option but to set fire to clear the heaps of garbage, officials said. The Kancheepuram district administration announced in December that every village panchayat would be allotted a piece of land for solid waste management within a month. However, employees of the rural local bodies said there was no progress on that front.

Residents of civic groups lamented that rural local bodies lacked the ability and resources to tackle a problem of this magnitude. Let alone composting of organic waste, even source segregation of garbage was difficult to implement, said V. Ramachandran, a Medavakkam resident.

A shed built under a solid waste management scheme in 2004 - 2005 was not in use, he pointed out.

With support from people and initiatives from elected representatives, it was possible to compost kitchen waste into manure in a panchayat like Mudichur, where the quantity of garbage was small, the panchayat staff said.

But in bigger village panchayats, government agencies had to intervene and so far, their response and support has been slow and poor, they admitted.

The problem is even more acute in village panchayats along Old Mamallapuram Road, where an enormous amount of construction debris is generated daily.

The Pammal model of a zero waste centre involving corporate firms and voluntary organisations may not be feasible in village panchayats as identifying sponsors was not easy, said officials of the Department of Rural Development.

However, a comprehensive scheme for solid waste management is soon to be implemented in 11 villages of St. Thomas Mount Block, they said.

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