Pallavaram municipality dumps waste in lake chosen for biomining
TNN | Jan 21, 2020, 04.54 AM IST
CHENNAI: What happens when a civic body is unable to dump garbage at a designated spot? It empties trucks in a legacy dump yard created on a large water body.
This is the state of affairs in Pallavaram. Garbage collected from houses in Pallavaram municipality is being sent to a dump yard south of the Pallavaram Periya Eri (lake).
David Manohar, a social activist and local resident, took photographs of vehicles ferrying garbage and emptying it in the dump yard. “This has been happening for the past few days. Garbage collection from houses has also become erratic,” he said.
The legacy waste in this dump yard is supposed to be biomined to help restore the water body. (See graphic)
Sources in the municipality said problems began after National Green Tribunal (NGT) pulled up Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities for dumping waste in the Vengadamangalam yard located on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road.
In 2015, it was decided that waste from these two civic bodies would be sent to the waste-to-energy plant in Vengadamangalam. The waste collected from houses would be taken to a transfer station, where it would be compressed and then sent to the Vengadamangalam yard. However, the state government found several lapses in the working of the private contractor and work stopped.
Also, reports by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board showed that frequent fires broke out in the yard leading to pollution over which nearby residents protested.
Advocates appearing for the municipalities before NGT said that there would be no fresh dumping of garbage from September 2019 in Vengadamangalam. But then where was this garbage going? Residents of Pallavaram found this answer — into the lake.
An official from Pallavaram municipality told TOI they were in talks to transfer the garbage to Perungudi dump yard which is under the control of Greater Chennai Corporation.
S Narasimhan, a resident and former councillor of Pallavaram municipality, said there was major mismanagement at the Vengadamangalam yard as well as in the biomining project in Pallavaram.
“A work order was given a year ago, but there appears to be no change in the size of the garbage mounds. Frequent fires cause pollution while the water in the lake, used by local residents, is polluted,” Narasimhan said. “How can the government itself contribute to polluting a water body,” Narasimhan asked.
Manohar has documented how raw sewage is being pumped out from a collection well into a channel connecting Pallavaram lake and Kilkattalai lake. Sewage is being let out
into the Periya Eri through an inlet channel.
Despite repeated calls, the Pallavaram municipality commissioner could not be reached for comments.
TNN | Jan 21, 2020, 04.54 AM IST
CHENNAI: What happens when a civic body is unable to dump garbage at a designated spot? It empties trucks in a legacy dump yard created on a large water body.
This is the state of affairs in Pallavaram. Garbage collected from houses in Pallavaram municipality is being sent to a dump yard south of the Pallavaram Periya Eri (lake).
David Manohar, a social activist and local resident, took photographs of vehicles ferrying garbage and emptying it in the dump yard. “This has been happening for the past few days. Garbage collection from houses has also become erratic,” he said.
The legacy waste in this dump yard is supposed to be biomined to help restore the water body. (See graphic)
Sources in the municipality said problems began after National Green Tribunal (NGT) pulled up Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities for dumping waste in the Vengadamangalam yard located on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road.
In 2015, it was decided that waste from these two civic bodies would be sent to the waste-to-energy plant in Vengadamangalam. The waste collected from houses would be taken to a transfer station, where it would be compressed and then sent to the Vengadamangalam yard. However, the state government found several lapses in the working of the private contractor and work stopped.
Also, reports by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board showed that frequent fires broke out in the yard leading to pollution over which nearby residents protested.
Advocates appearing for the municipalities before NGT said that there would be no fresh dumping of garbage from September 2019 in Vengadamangalam. But then where was this garbage going? Residents of Pallavaram found this answer — into the lake.
An official from Pallavaram municipality told TOI they were in talks to transfer the garbage to Perungudi dump yard which is under the control of Greater Chennai Corporation.
S Narasimhan, a resident and former councillor of Pallavaram municipality, said there was major mismanagement at the Vengadamangalam yard as well as in the biomining project in Pallavaram.
“A work order was given a year ago, but there appears to be no change in the size of the garbage mounds. Frequent fires cause pollution while the water in the lake, used by local residents, is polluted,” Narasimhan said. “How can the government itself contribute to polluting a water body,” Narasimhan asked.
Manohar has documented how raw sewage is being pumped out from a collection well into a channel connecting Pallavaram lake and Kilkattalai lake. Sewage is being let out
into the Periya Eri through an inlet channel.
Despite repeated calls, the Pallavaram municipality commissioner could not be reached for comments.
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