Dumpyard cause for concern in Chennai's Chitlapakkam

Residents claim that ever since the garbage yard was shifted to the locality, they have been suffering from health issues.
Cows climb the waste pile and nibble garbage at the Chitlapakkam waste dumpyard| Express
Cows climb the waste pile and nibble garbage at the Chitlapakkam waste dumpyard| Express

CHENNAI: For the last two weeks, P Anamithra, a five-year-old girl in Chitlapakkam, has been suffering from severe fever and wheezing. It has been 15 days since she went to school now. Her parents took her to a doctor, who did not rule out the possibility that it could be due to toxic air pollution in the locality.

Coincidentally, their house is located just opposite the town panchayat waste composting yard. Home to garbage from 18 wards in the Panchayat, the composting yard for several months, has been used as a 'waste dumpyard' too. The waste collected has now become a huge mountain of garbage which emits unbearable toxic odour. ''People living opposite this dumpyard are the ones severely affected. If it rains, we can't even stay in the house as the odour becomes stronger,'' said Lakshmi, mother of the five-year-old.

Lakshmi, a member of the social welfare group Chitlapakkam Rising, said numerous complaints have been made to shift the dumpyard elsewhere but it has fallen on deaf ears.''We even invited the officials home for dinner, so they can know for real, how it is to live here opposite the dumpyard,'' added Lakshmi. A long time back, this dumpyard used to be near the Chitlapakkam lake area. However, six months ago, it was shifted to the composting yard.

Krishna Kumar, another resident, is a heart patient who recently underwent a heart operation. ''If any resident dies due to pollution or health issues here, the Panchayat has to take complete responsibility. Many people here suffer from breathing issues due to the toxic pollution,'' he said. He also alleged that the civic body called for tenders in crores of rupees to collect, segregate and transport garbage yearly. But how much it is reflected in reality is not seen as the dumpyard has been there for months now.

Contrary to the Solid Waste Management bylaws, which say the civic body has to collect segregated waste door-to-door, the garbage mountain in the town panchayat is full of unsegregated waste.

Express spotted around ten to fifteen cows inside the dumpyard itself, climbing on top of the mountain, nibbling garbage including plastic and aluminium. This utter civic negligence comes in the wake of TANUVAS doctors removing 52 kgs of garbage from a cow's stomach.

When contacted by Express, Panchayat officials said that plans were on to shift the dumpyard from the residential locality to someplace else  owing to the problems. ''Talks are on to transport the waste to a scientific landfill in Kolathur. We will ensure that there's quick action reagrding the complaint,'' said the official.

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