CHENNAI: A joint fact-finding report released by activists and civic groups in Hyderabad states that the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Jawahar Nagar is the cause for multiple health issues for residents in the locality. The report finds significance as a team of corporation officials and councillors visited the WTE plant on Thursday to study its ‘successful’ operation. GCC had claimed it to be a success and has been pushing to open a similar facility at Kodungaiyur.
The report states that residents living within an 8km radius of the Jawahar Nagar facility live with constant foul odour. The incineration also produces fine ash, which settles inside homes, covering furniture, clothes, and household items, which has aggravated respiratory issues, kidney ailments, skin diseases, and other chronic conditions in the region.
The report documents the public health hazards and environmental degradation caused by the WTE plant and adjoining landfill. The plant with an incineration capacity 24MW has been in operation since 2021. Another plant with the same capacity is currently being constructed.
Meanwhile, leachate from the landfill has contaminated nearby water bodies. A groundwater test revealed a TDS of 10,506 mg/l - 20 times over the permissible limit. The report accuses the plant operator of pollution control violations and fly ash mismanagement.
“When we visited the plant, we observed that the fly ash was dumped over garbage in the landfill. The company is not complying with the regulations,” Sandeep Raj (40), a resident of Jawahar Nagar living just a few metres from the plant, told TNIE.
“Garbage trucks arrive uncovered. The air and water in a 10km radius are polluted . As per MoEFCC norms, a 500m buffer is required between landfills and homes, but even government-built flats are just 215m away,” said Ruchith Asha Kamal, a member of Climate Front Hyderabad. The Kodungaiyur dumpyard falls within 100m of residential zones.
The proposed Kodungaiyur WTE plant, to be built by the same firm, is designed to process 2,100 tonnes of non-recyclable solid waste per day. But now residents, councillors, and environmental activists are warning against it since countries like Canada are closing WTE plants due to air pollution and health hazards.
“When a 10-tonne facility in Manali led to cadmium contamination 24 times over the WHO limit, what will happen with 2,100 tonnes,” asked Ramachandra Rao, a Kodungaiyur resident.
North Chennai residents argue the region cannot withstand further environmental stress. “It is good that GCC officials went on a study tour, but have they spoken to the victims there,” asked T K Shanmugam, president of the Federation of North Chennai Residents’ Welfare Association.
During the visit, GCC officials were provided with a detailed operation mechanism of the WTE plant in Hyderabad by GHMC Commissioner K Ilambarithi. The team will return to Chennai on Friday.