COIMBATORE: Residents of Madukkarai allege that the municipality is dumping waste in abandoned quarries in the town, and voiced concerns of health hazards.
They recalled that the local body had in the past received widespread praise for establishing a wealth recovery park that produced manure and engaged in organic farming. But today, even source segregation is not done and waste collected from 27 wards is dumped into an abandoned quarry next to the wealth recovery park.
“There is old abandoned stone quarry between Madukkarai and the Kochi Bypass Road which is spread over several acres. It has now become a garbage dump site. Not only garbage collected in Madukkarai Municipality but also waste from surrounding villages is dumped in the quarry. Since it is not possible to remove the waste from the quarry, the environment and groundwater in the area are bound to be polluted.
The district administration should stop dumping garbage into the quarry, and put in place arrangements so that no one else dumps garbage here,” said K Elangovan, an environmental activist from Madukkarai.
He added that abandoned quarries should be considered as water bodies and protected properly.
“We can clean open landfills. But once a quarry turns into a dump site, it is not possible to recover it. Stagnant water in the Madukkarai quarry has been polluted, as tonnes of waste have been dumped in it. We cannot remove that waste easily, and it will harm the environment and the groundwater,” he worried.
Officials of the Madukkarai municipal administration said their solid waste management is on track, unidentified people have been dumping waste in the quarry, which they are not able to prevent. Officials said instead of collecting garbage through bins, door-to-door collection of segregated waste is being implemented in the area.
“Two micro composting centres are functioning to segregate garbage and separate it into manure and recyclables. However, open dumping is due to waste coming from outside”, said an official with anonymity.
He said, “70% of solid waste management is formalised and the remaining 30% is an uncontrollable problem. We are considering building fences around the quarry and installing surveillance cameras in places where waste is dumped in large quantities.”