TENKASI: Around 10 tonnes of waste, allegedly brought from Kerala, has been dumped on an HR&CE land at Keezha Kadayam village in Tenkasi district, raising environmental concerns among residents and activists on Monday.
The waste included plastic waste, electronic waste, discarded mobile phone parts, damaged car seats and seat covers, electrical wires, thermocol from dismantled refrigerators and expired tablets packed in sacks.
The waste was found about 100 feet from the Kadayam-Tenkasi Road, near a burial ground of the Keezha Kadayam panchayat. The sacks and wastes had Malayalam letters written on them. Many number boards of the Kerala-registered vehicles were also found among the wastes.
The Kadayam police registered a case against unidentified persons who dumped the waste based on a complaint filed by HR & CE department’s executive officer Sudha.
Environmentalists alleged that the waste had been transported from Kerala and dumped at the secluded spot as had happened earlier. They expressed concern that rainwater could wash the waste into the nearby Jambu river and agricultural fields, polluting the soil and groundwater.
The residents alleged that trucks carrying minerals, vegetables, rice and other goods to Kerala often return with waste, which is illegally dumped in rural parts of Tamil Nadu. They claimed that such dumping has continued despite repeated complaints.
“A few years ago miscreants had set fire to plastic waste from Kerala dumped at Chettimadam hamlet in the same panchayat. We urge the authorities to identify those responsible, ensure that the waste is taken back to Kerala and initiate legal action against the offenders under the Goondas Act,” residents said.
In December 2024, a huge amount of bio-medical waste from Kerala. particularly from the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, was dumped in several villages in Tirunelveli district.
Based on the the TNIE reports on the incident, the National Green Tribunal took a suo motu case and directed Kerala government to bring back its waste. Thereafter, the waste was taken back on more than 30 trucks. In the aftermath, Tamil Nadu amended the Goondas Act to enable the preventive detention of those involved in the illegal dumping of biomedical waste.