CHENNAI: Residents of the Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency staged a symbolic funeral protest on Monday, alleging that a new solid waste dumping ground is being created on a wetland adjacent to the existing Kodungaiyur legacy dumpyard.
They claimed that tonnes of municipal solid waste from corporation zones 1 to 8 have been dumped at the site over the past four months. Residents said that thousands living in Thamizhan Nagar, Sanjeev Gandhi Nagar, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Patel Nagar, Nethaji Nagar, MGR Nagar, Annai Sathya Nagar, Nehru Nagar, among others, will be affected.
The corporation initially began dumping soil generated through bio-mining at the Kodungaiyur landfill on this site in 2025, claiming it was being levelled for the construction of a public burial ground. However, over the past four months, the site has allegedly been converted into a fresh dumping ground, with mounds of garbage accumulating into what residents described as a “small mountain.”
“Nearly every household here has someone suffering from wheezing or respiratory illnesses. Even newborns are affected. My two children developed wheezing within their first year. ” said Murugesan N, a resident of Tamizhan Nagar. Murugesan, He further said his family spends `50 to `100 per person every day on nebuliser treatment.
Residents said the site was previously a low-lying wetland that naturally retained rainwater. They alleged that raising the ground level and dumping waste there would aggravate flooding in surrounding residential areas during the monsoon. “We never wanted a burial ground or another dumping site here,” said resident Mutharasi I (45).
Recently, a city corporation official confirmed to TNIE that the proposed burial ground project had been shelved to make way for a new site for fresh waste disposal, as the existing Kodungaiyur dumpyard no longer has sufficient space due to the biomining operations.