Pallavaram municipality struggles to handle waste

Pallavaram municipality struggles to handle waste

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.02.2021 

Officials representing the Pallavaram municipality have informedtheNationalGreen Tribunal(NGT) that disposing waste accumulated at the local waste transfer station on Thoraipakkam Radial Road will take longer as there is no dumping site nearby and installation of incinerators is pending. Admitting the submissions made by the municipality, the tribunal during a recent hearing observed that it was the responsibility of the Chengalpet district collector and local body to ensure that unscientific disposal of waste doesn’t create public health issues. If not, the district collector will be compelled to appear before the tribunal, it said.

The issue of dumping solid waste at the station in Ganapathipuram and roads around was first brought to light by TOI in a report dated September 24, 2020. As complaints from the public went unattended, NGT southern zone took suo motu cognizance of the issue and constituted a joint-committee to look into it.

Due to the fault of the concessionaire, the NGT had in January 2021directed the Pallavaram municipality not to dispose the accumulated waste at Vengadamangalam solid waste management facility. According to official data, around 17,340tonnesof solidwastewas accumulated on the station premises, of which the municipality submitted it has cleared13,371tonnes. Sothelocalbody approached Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), which later permitted the municipality to dispose of waste at the Perungudi dump yard and subsequently at Kodungaiyur. But private trucks that were engaged to dispose waste to Kodungaiyur, 55km away from Ganapathipuram, were able to clear only 40 tonnes of waste a day because they could make only four trips a day.

But the problem is that the daily waste collected from houses and shops in Pallavaram is adding to the pile. At present, of the104 tonnes daily waste gathered at Ganapathipuram, 30 tonnes are processed at micro-compost centres and the remaining 60-70 tonnes get accumulated at other end. So, clearing 100% accumulated waste would be possible only when the two incinerators proposed at the Vengadamangalam facility are ready, the municipality contended.

GARBAGE MOUNTAIN: Waste piling up at the Pallavaram dump yard has been spilling on to 200ft Radial Road