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Chennai
Once fresh water source, now it’s a quagmire
| Pallikaranai marsh spews out toxic substances because of dumping and burning of garbage at Perungudi yard |
DIMENSIONS OF WASTE: (Clockwise from top left): Irresponsible dumping of waste on a city road; a typical scene of dustbin overflowing; garbage being loaded onto a Corporation lorry and smoke billows out of garbage dumped in Perungudi.
DIMENSIONS OF WASTE: (Clockwise from top left): Irresponsible dumping of waste on a city road; a typical scene of dustbin overflowing; garbage being loaded onto a Corporation lorry and smoke billows out of garbage dumped in Perungudi.
DIMENSIONS OF WASTE: (Clockwise from top left): Irresponsible dumping of waste on a city road; a typical scene of dustbin overflowing; garbage being loaded onto a Corporation lorry and smoke billows out of garbage dumped in Perungudi.
DIMENSIONS OF WASTE: (Clockwise from top left): Irresponsible dumping of waste on a city road; a typical scene of dustbin overflowing; garbage being loaded onto a Corporation lorry and smoke billows out of garbage dumped in Perungudi.
CHENNAI: Once known for its rich biodiversity and as a fresh water source, the Pallikaranai marsh today spews out toxic substances because of the dumping and burning of garbage at the Perungudi dump yard set up on a portion of the marsh. The Perungudi Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) has not improved the situation as the marsh has lost its fresh water characteristic due to letting of untreated sewage water.
K. Periasamy, president, Sri Sai Nagar Residents Associations, who suffers from blisters, a symptom associated with dioxin emission of burning garbage, said the establishment of the Perungudi dump yard by the Chennai Corporation at the marsh land was a blunder.
He said that a study in 1996, by the Chennai Corporation, was against the location of the dumpyard in the marsh land. The study said it was not advisable to locate it as the area is flood-hazard zone. Also with residential layouts approved near the marsh, which was also a waterbody, the implications of leachate formation would be significant. The dumpyard is causing an irreparable damage to the environment and also affecting the residents living nearby, he added.
S. Kannan, a resident of Rajeev Nagar, Thoraipakkam, said the impact of setting up an STP and dump yard in the marsh has resulted in air and water pollution. Residents have to shell out more money for purchasing water and medicine. Mr. Kannan said the heavy metals dumped in the landfill had contaminated the ground water making it unusable for any purpose.
Mary Mani, president of Thoraipakkam Ladies Club, said the residents living around the Perungudi dump yard and the STP suffered from various ailments of throat pain, suffocation, cold and other health problems. Ms. Mani said two club members have died of cancer and two others are undergoing cancer treatment. Participants in a public hearing organised by the Expert Committee, Solid Waste Management, Pallikaranai Marsh Land, appointed by the Madras High Court, which was held on October 5, demanded that the Chennai Corporation implement the Municipal Solid Waste (Handling and Management) Rules, 2000. An estimated 1,500 tonnes of garbage generated in the city gets dumped in Perungudi.
T.K. Ramkumar, an advocate and member of the expert committee, wanted a waste ‘satyagraha’ to be practised by the people. “Why should one give away the waste when one can make money out of it?” he said.
He also underscored the need for a collective effort of communities, industries and government agencies in meeting the challenges associated with the waste disposal.
FragmentedThe marsh, once spread over 5,000 hectares, got fragmented over the years because of various developments, including the Mass Rapid Transit System, construction of institutional complexes and the setting up of the STP and the dump yard. Environmentalists, however, point out that the Pallikaranai marsh still has a chance to be retrieved from destruction.
Jayasree Vencatesan, Joint Director, Care Earth, an organisation that carried out an extensive study on the marsh, said nearly 317 hectares on the southern end of the marsh had been declared a protected site under the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882. She suggested that demarcating the remaining portion of the marsh located on the northern end as protected area could nurse the marsh back to a natural recovery.
V. Srinivasan, a member of the Save Pallikaranai Marsh Forum, said, “when the State Government could allocate large sum of money to rejuvenate Adyar Creek, why cannot the government take steps to restore the marsh, a natural wetland created by the backwater of the Bay of Bengal and which serves as an aquifer and a bird sanctuary.”
Environmentalists and residents welfare activists also charge the Chennai Corporation with expanding the dump yard. With the natural course of water being from north to south, the civic agency, by expanding the landfill towards north, is blocking water from draining out, they complain. Mr. Srinivasan said that today the civic agency occupied double the space allotted for the landfill and has been expanding day by day. If this situation prolongs, a number of areas would be submerged in rainwater, he added.
Chennai Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said source segregation appeared to be the only solution for reducing garbage generation. A movement has been made in this direction by introducing source segregation of garbage in a few pockets of south Chennai. The Corporation is also taking steps to stop burning of garbage at the dump yard.
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