MADURAI: Alleging severe health hazards at the Vellaikal dump yard, deputy mayor of Madurai City Corporation T Nagarajan on Friday demanded the state government to take stringent action against the private firm handling the city's waste management operations.
Seeking a long-term solution, the deputy mayor urged the government to introduce modern waste-to-energy projects in Madurai on the lines of facilities established in Ahmedabad.
"Madurai needs a scientific and modern waste management system. Electricity and gas can be generated from waste instead of allowing it to become a public health threat," he said.
After inspecting the dump yard located near the Pamban nagar residential locality, Nagarajan said residents had been repeatedly petitioning the corporation over foul smell, insect infestation and the risk of infectious diseases, especially during rainy seasons.
Claiming that scientific waste segregation systems at the yard had remained defunct for years, he alleged that garbage was instead being manually sorted by migrant workers and local residents, without any safety measures.
"Modern segregation machinery installed at the site has turned rusted and non-functional. Workers are being forced to manually pick waste amid moving heavy vehicles and unbearable stench," he alleged.
(The collection and clearing of garbage in the city is done by private firm Ourland. Waste segregation is done by two other companies. Biomining of the legacy waste at the dump yard is by two other firms.)
The deputy mayor further claimed that although a private company had been awarded a contract worth over Rs 33 crore for waste segregation works in 2022, the project had failed to achieve its intended purpose. He alleged that recyclable materials from the garbage yard were being informally collected and sold, resulting in substantial losses to the corporation.
Nagarajan also questioned why garbage continued to be dumped close to residential areas despite the availability of large vacant land within the dump yard premises.
Referring to his visit, Nagarajan said he witnessed unsafe working conditions firsthand. "Even standing there for a few minutes caused dizziness because of the smell. During monsoon, the condition would be much worse," he said. Criticising privatisation of sanitation services, Nagarajan said private operators were interested only in profit and failed to ensure either worker welfare or efficient public service.
He also accused civic officials of ignoring repeated complaints and failing to act on his earlier demand to cancel the contractor's agreement, which he said had been raised during a corporation council meeting in October 2024.