Haphazard dumping of garbage continues in Ambattur

By Akila Dinakar

CHENNAI, JULY 23. Garbage strewn in vast areas and choking the stormwater drains of the New Ambattur Industrial Estate Road, the main thoroughfare leading to the Estate reveals the ``gross neglect of civic needs by the Ambattur Municipality''.

Travelling down the road from Tirumangalam, where several IAS and IPS officials also reside, residents have to bear haphazard dumping of garbage by the municipality.

Adjacent the Radial Housing Colony, the garbage is being dumped, while the drainage from the same colony and black waters from the small industries including dyeing units in Bhagyathammal Nagar, Sathya Nagar and Srinivasa Nagar are discharged into an open drain opposite the colony. ``The murky waters have not prevented encroachers who cause further damage as during rains their huts block the water flow'', an autodriver living in the area said.

Critical of the lack of a proper solid waste management policy on the part of the Municipal Administration, Mr. S. Palanivel, Leader of the Opposition in the municipality, says the civic body was dumping garbage at Korattur in an area allotted for a burial ground. On complaints from residents in Ward 24 that the groundwater would get polluted, it was stopped, Mr. C. Vijayakumar, Councillor, said.

At Kallikuppam, the civic body tried to create another dump, but this was also resisted. With a view to close the Mangalapuram Tank, at the entrance of the industrial estate, used by dhobis to wash clothes, garbage was being dumped. This was despite the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) issuing a notice to the municipality directing it to stop dumping garbage there.

Residents of the area around the Mangalapuram Tank, Officers Colony burial ground and Radial Housing Colony are subjected to several problems due to the garbage which is often set afire. The trash includes plastics, pet bottles and bio-medical wastes. This is despite a resolution passed in the council that garbage should not be burnt. In the Ambattur and the Mogappair industrial estates, garbage from leather, paper and plastics is set afire sometimes with kerosene, releasing toxic substances. Burning mounds of refuse here is a common sight.

The stormwater drains on both sides of the New Ambattur Industrial Estate road are blocked with plastics, fruit and sugarcane pieces, leftovers from the wayside food stalls and the suggestions to construct shops over the drains have fallen on deaf ears, says Mr. Palanivel. While the shops will yield revenue for the municipality, the encroachments are benefitting a few persons, besides posing a hazard to residents.

He suggested that the municipal land in Athipattu could be used for dumping garbage after construction of a cement floor and compound walls. ``If the municipality cannot execute the task, then it should be given to the private sector'', he said.

The TNPCB has given a notice to the municipality in May, asking it to stop dumping solid wastes in the Korattur and Vijayalakshmipuram lakes and the Mogappair Pond, Mr. R. Ramachandran, Additional Chief Environmental Engineer, said.

Under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act, the Board had directed, based on complaints from the public, that the garbage generated in the Industrial Estate be properly collected and misuse of open space should be avoided. They were also told to identify a site for treatment, storage and safe disposal of solid waste, formulate a comprehensive proposal for collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal and also to take steps to segregate wastes and compost it so as to avoid a vast landfill space.

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Section  : Southern States
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