CHENNAI: Even several weeks after the National Green Tribunal issued a stay order, the Chitlapakkam lake continues to be a garbage dumping site.
“It’s a plain health hazard to people in the locality, as garbage is also being burnt here. It has severe long term effects. Dumping sites should not be anywhere near a residential or school area,” said Karthik, the petitioner who took up the issue.
Ten metric tonnes of waste from houses, offices, commercial complexes and the streets get dumped at a site adjoining the lake. Although local NGO Hand in Hand has been segregating bio-waste from the landfill manually and processing them for several years, they cover only six tonnes of household garbage.
The remaining garbage invariably ends up contaminating the water body, which is becoming more polluted. A primary health centre and a school are located next to the site, posing sanitation hazards.
“This is not how I remember the lake at all. It used to be much cleaner when I grew up in this locality. Now the drains from Tambaram empty here and garbage adds to it,” observed Kiran Thomas, who had come to fish at the cleaner end of the lake.
The petition filed by a lawyer asked the court for restraint on dumping at the site, which is barely an acre. Garbage is piled here every day of the year, while the town panchayat is removing the garbage on a weekly basis. The trash levels have increased — in addition to the locality’s 13,000 households, commuters to Tambaram taking the road also add to the trash.
“The local body is spraying medicine once a week and is doing what it can. But nobody would want the dump site there, given a choice,” says Manimekala, an office goer from the locality. During the rains, the garbage levels increased and has reportedly just returned to normal but the stench hovers in the air and one can smell it even from several blocks away.
“We are waiting for an approved dumping site from the government to be allocated to us. Possible sites at Keerapakkam and Pammal have been on the table for a while and could be useful to take the load off,” said an official from the local civic body. “The garbage here would, by norms, require five acres of land space at least but we are making do with this.”
Swallowed by garbage on one end, the Chitlapakkam lake has also, over the years, shrunk from 90 acres to its present 40-odd acres and continues to be a recreational site where people can walk, rest or fish. A Sai Baba temple is also coming up along the banks.