THANJAVUR: People living near the Thanjavur city corporation’s dump yard have urged the authorities to take steps to prevent recurrent fires. A major fire broke out on July 5 at the 28-acre dump located at Chekkadi, which could be doused only the next morning. This was the second fire to break out at the dump within 20 days following a fire on June 17.
“Smoke from the fire causes breathing problems to people like us living in the vicinity,” said T Chandran, who is employed in a TNSTC depot nearby.
According to sources, more than two lakh cubic metre of legacy waste have accumulated at the dump over a decade and fire breaks out frequently during periods of intense heat.
M Tamilvanan, ward 19 councilor who represents the area said, “We have been demanding the shifting of the dump out of the city. The smoke on July 5 spread over the Anandam Nagar, Gandhipuram, Srinivasapuram, Chekkadi, West Rampart, West main street, East Main street and even up to the old fishmarket in East Gate causing inconvenience to large number of people”.
Tamilvanan said he had asked corporation authorities to segregate the legacy waste in the dump into four parts to help fire tenders move easily in the event of a blaze. He added that the dumping of fresh waste at the yard has been stopped and the gates have been closed for vehicles following a demand he made at a recent council meeting.
The waste will be sent to 12 micro composting centres, an official of the city corporation told TNIE.
When contacted, Deputy Mayor Anjugam Boopathy said the district administration had been requested to provide an alternate site for shifting the legacy waste. “We are also proposing a fresh phase of bio-mining the legacy waste,” she said.