CHENNAI: Residents around Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumpyards, who have been eagerly looking forward to the closure of the sites, will have to bear with the stench and smoke from the garbage for at least two more years, as the Chennai Corporation is yet to make any headway in its efforts to cap the yards or developing alternate sites to process the waste. The civic body had proposed a Rs 400 crore plan to scientifically cap these two landfill sites that receive most of the 5000 metric tonne waste generated every day in Chennai. This was to be sent instead to sites at Minjur and Kuthambakkam villages to process it scientifically.
Officials had held preliminary talks with four firms on landfill closure, during which three of them suggested adopting capping technique to close the landfills. However, before any process can begin, the civic body will ask the selected to take up survey of the type and quality of wastes found at the landfills. “No survey has ever been done to identify what kind of wastes are dumped at these landfills. All four firms said that it will take at least 12-18 months to conduct such a survey. But we want it to be completed in three months’ time. There are instructions to hasten the closure process in double quick time,” said an official.
Meanwhile, utilisation of the unused portions of Kodungaiyur landfill seems to be the priority, as officials struggle to find space to dump the waste generated by the city every day. “That is why we cannot stop dumping at Pallikaranai,” an official said, referring to the third dumping site in Chennai. The corporation is also readying tenders to set up 10 feet tall water sprinkler poles and fire hydrants at the landfills that will come in handy during fire incidents. It is also planning to fence the edge of the reserve forest area near Pallikaranai dump site in the coming months.
Rag pickers, who will be affected if the landfills are closed, will be rehabilitated, said officials. Under the National Urban Livelihood Mission, the corporation is looking to rehabilitate the rag pickers away from the landfill sites and looking to integrate them into the wider community. Senior officials said that they are considering hiring them to help in source segregation of waste into bio and non-bio degradable.