'Govt. should accord priority to environmental issues'

By Akila Dinakar

CHENNAI, JUNE 2. With the World Environment Day approaching (June 5), the AIADMK Government should urgently deal with the issues that would have a serious ecological impact on Chennai, environmentalists say.

Vehicles spewing Respirable Dust Particles, Particulate Matter, Oxides of Nitrogen, Sulphur Dioxide and Lead are increasing by day. Environmentalists feel that the Government should immediately tackle this problem, focussing on provision of a more comfortable public transport by road and rail and safe passageways for cyclists and pedestrians. This could drastically bring down the number of persons using two-wheelers and cars that are now clogging the city roads.

Another major pollutant is industrial effluents. In the major industrial belts like Manali, effluents are causing major health hazards for residents in the neighbouring areas. Children and adults alike in Manali suffer from respiratory and skin ailments. As the effluents are discharged into the Buckingham Canal and Ennore Creek reveal, the waterways are fast getting polluted, killing marine life including crabs and prawns that provide sustenance and foreign exchange for fishermen up to the Pulicat lake. Urgent steps should be taken to mitigating the effects of industrial pollution, making the polluters responsible for protecting the environment around their factories, board officials feel.

Studies point out that the groundwater is fast getting depleted owing to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority's failure to implement rainwater harvesting measures. The Government departments should set up water harvesting structures in offices, parks and playgrounds, before insisting on private builders adopting rainwater harvesting practices.

While the Chennai Corporation has enlisted the services of the Singapore-based CES Onyx to clean certain Zones, managing garbage still remains a problem. Dr. Sultan Ismail, waste management expert, said priority should be given to segregating organic and inorganic garbage at source in small pockets of the city in a bid to make it easy for composting organic wastes. This should be extended to the whole city on a large scale. ``When the buzz-word is self-sufficiency, steps should be taken to internalise management of hospital and domestic wastes'', he said.

Forest officials say urban farming should be encouraged. As the Forest Department now had the capability to raise tall seedlings, the Government's focus should be on increasing the green canopy while protecting the areas under parks and reviving natural water bodies.

Sea erosion was yet another serious environmental threat, senior PWD officials point out. While pointers from scientists of the Anna University and the IIT, on the hazards of locating the North Chennai Thermal Power Station and the Ennore Satellite Port north of the Ennore Creek were ignored, problems including erosion of the Pulicat lake sand bar and accretion of sand on the Ennore Creek have begun. A permanent remedy for erosion of the Royapuram coastline needs to be found to avoid any major disaster, experts say.

Hospital wastes burning in the compound of the Kasturba hospital, Triplicane, creating a plume of thick, pugnant smoke. Disposal of hospital waste is a major environmental problem in the city.

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