TIRUPPUR: The garbage issue in Tiruppur, which had been contained for the past few months, has started to rear its head again. With the current intermittent rains, the corporation is intensifying efforts to clear the garbage accumulated in the city wards to prevent the spread of infections. For this, the corporation has once again turned to stone quarries.
With officials estimating that about 10 to 15 thousand metric tonnes of waste having been accumulated within the city, a team led by the Director of Municipal Administration has camped in Tiruppur to oversee its clearance and plan the next steps.
Sources said around 570 metric tonnes of garbage is collected daily in 60 wards of the corporation. Of this, around 200 metric tonnes are sent for recycling, including 120 metric tonnes to 28 MCCs.
Earlier, a major part of garbage had been dumped in abandoned stone quarries in Mudalipalayam and Nallur in Tiruppur. On October 10, 2025, the Madras High Court banned the dumping of garbage in these stone quarries. Instead, the court granted permission to temporarily dump and manage the garbage at a site in Iduvai. The work there was also disrupted by public protests.
Consequently, the corporation selected about 96 locations within its limits to dump and manage the garbage. At present, there is a situation that the garbage cannot be stored within the city limits and the corporation is now looking towards stone quarries.
On Sunday, a portion of garbage was dumped into a private stone quarry in Govindampalayam village, which falls under the Uthukuli Taluk. It was disrupted by public protests.
On Tuesday, attempts were made to dump it at a quarry in Velliyampalayam, near Uthukuli. There too, the public protested.
Realising the seriousness of the situation, a five-member team led by Municipal Administration Director P Madhusudhan Reddy arrived in Tiruppur on Tuesday, which has accelerated the task of clearing the accumulated garbage.
However, on Wednesday, a protest led by DMK Councillor Gomathi Kumar was held against the storing of garbage behind the Kovilvazhi bus stand, which falls within the corporation limits.
"Currently, there is no place for the corporation to store garbage. Further, the public protests wherever garbage is taken. This is why we informed the officials including the municipal administrative director. A team of officials from Chennai is camped here and currently carrying out a task to remove garbage accumulated in the city. Currently, garbage is being sent to two abandoned stone quarries, with proper permission. We have no other option for now," said R Balasubramaniam, Mayor (in-charge) of Corporation.
"We plan to purchase land for the corporation for solid waste management soon. We are going to consult with industry people and others for this," the Mayor added.
This aside, the project to set up a Bio-CNG plant in Manickapuram near Palladam, by the corporation, has been stalled due to public opposition, marking a setback.
A senior official said, "There is no plan to relocate the Bio-CNG project due to public opposition. Negotiations are under way to implement this. Projects to manage about 60% of the garbage will be implemented within the next four months. It will take a year for all the projects, including Bio-CNG and Waste-to-Energy, to be implemented to manage the entire garbage."
"At present, around 10 to 15 thousand metric tonnes of garbage have accumulated within the city. Due to the rain, there is an urgent need to remove it to avoid infections," he added.