The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Kodungaiyur residents protest garbage dumping

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Monday, Jan 28, 2008
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Kodungaiyur residents protest garbage dumping

Kannal Achuthan

Plan to block garbage trucks on Feb. 3

Doctors, lawyers and politicians to participate
School students to form human chain

Chennai: Kodungaiyur residents plan to block garbage trucks on February 3 to protest against the dumping of municipal solid waste in their locality.

Members of 20 residents’ welfare associations, students from five schools, doctors, lawyers and politicians would participate in the protest, said N.S. Ramachandra Rao, president of Ever Vigilant Citizens Welfare Association.

The residents are concerned that the dumping and burning of garbage near their homes is detrimental to their health and environment. “Garbage from seven zones of the city is dumped in our neighbourhood. We have been fighting against the problem for several years and have decided to take this step as a last resort,” Mr. Rao said.

Perambur MLA S.K. Mahendran will preside the protest meeting. School students would form a human chain and carry placards with slogans on the plight of the residents.

Mr. Rao said the Chennai Corporation owned only 32 acres in Kodungaiyur but was dumping garbage in 400 acres.

In March last year, a panel of health and environment experts brought out a report stating that an air sample test at the dumping yard had revealed the presence of five cancer-causing toxins.

A. Pandurangan, president of Kaviarasu Kannadasan Nagar Citizen Welfare Association, said about one lakh families were living in the localities around the dumping ground.

“We are often asked ‘What came first? The residential localities or the dumpyard?’ The Housing Board had allotted plots for Kannadasan Nagar in 1984 before the dump came,” Mr. Pandurangan said.

The residents have been campaigning for shifting of the site. Kannadasan Nagar, Krishnamoorthy Nagar, Ezhil Nagar and Rajarathnam Nagar are some of the colonies on the fringe of the dumping ground, and the worst affected.

Mr. Pandurangan pointed out that government officials promised to work out a solution in a meeting held in April 2006 but nothing came of it. “Each zone should be able to manage its own waste. Even the proposed waste-to-electricity scheme will not help us as the plant capacity would be only 450 tonnes of garbage,” he said.

With assistance from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the Corporation is working on a long-term solution for a compost plant and a waste-to-electricity scheme to manage solid waste.

Remediation of old garbage would be done through a mechanical separator.

Chennai generates about 3,600 tonnes of solid waste every day. About 2,000 tonnes find its way to Kodungaiyur and the rest is dumped at Perungudi.

Yet to be implemented

Although a solid waste source segregation programme has been started, it is yet to be implemented on a large scale.

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