CHENNAI: After pulling up the Madukkarai Tahsildar and Chettipalayam Town Panchayat executive officer for washing their hands of the issue relating to the dumping of medical waste and garbage materials on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border, the Madras High Court has directed the Coimbatore District Collector to appear before it with all records on August 31.
Justice N Kirubakaran gave the directive last week while entertaining a plea from S Ramaswamy of Thiruneer Mettu Thottam, praying for a directive to the authorities concerned to implement an order dated March 10 last of the Madukkarai Tahsildar banning dumping of waste materials at the site in question.
“It is reported in the media that chemical waste, e-waste, and medical waste are transported from Kerala and illegally dumped in the border districts of Tamil Nadu, causing serious pollution.
At least after the media reports, the authorities should have acted upon. It seems the Tahsildar and the EO of Chettipalayam Town Panchayat washed of their hands after issuing the notice. Such a trend has to be arrested. When a serious issue is raised, which causes pollution and health hazard, the authority should act with responsibility. In this case, the authorities have failed to act upon. Therefore, the District Collector, Coimbatore, is directed to appear before the court on August 31 and file a report,” the judge said.
According to the petitioner, there is a vacant land adjacent to his residence belonging to one Velumani. He leased out a portion of the land to one Abdul Ali of Podanur. They both are involved in transportation of harmful materials like medical waste and other wastes. No approval was obtained from any of the authorities for dumping the waste.
To put an end to the illegal act, the petitioner and villagers gave representations to the Madukkarai Tahsildar and Chettipalayam Town Panchayat EO. The Tahsildar by an order dated March 10 last had directed the land owner and the lease holder to stop the illegal act of dumping of harmful materials failing which they will be prosecuted under the provisions of CrPC. As no action was taken thereafter, the petitioner gave a representation to the Collector, who also did not evince much interest, petitioner alleged.