CHENNAI: You probably haven’t heard of a biomedical waste activist. Pughalventhan V hadn’t either. But by chance, the 30-year-old aeronautical engineer posted some photos on social media a few years ago, and as one thing led to another, he got serious about ensuring pharmaceutical waste being disposed properly. “Around 2017-18, when farmers faced a water crisis, I visited Thiruneermalai lake near Pallavaram to check for ways to restore the waterbody. It was then that I noticed a small pile of biomedical waste being dumped there,” Pughal recounts.
He casually took photos of the waste and posted them on social media. “I didn’t know how sensitive the issue was. But many people started commenting on the importance of reporting it and how to dispose the waste. Only then did I raise a complaint with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB),” Pughal says, and points out that the first time he was featured in the news for identifying biomedical waste was by Express.Since then, Pughal has been hugely involved in biomedical-waste activism, and continues to balance it with his work as an engineer.
He lives in Kundrathur, a suburb in Chennai, and takes a special interest in finding out where biomedical waste is dumped in the city. “I have found biomedical waste along the Adyar River a couple of times. I have also noticed it alongside waterbodies in Kundrathur and Vandalur. Miscreants dispose it alongside busy service roads too,” he points out.
But Pughal doesn’t stop with identifying biomedical waste and reporting it to the authorities. He takes photos of bills and notes (bearing names of companies) that he finds in the piles of partly-burnt waste dumped near waterbodies and roads, and sends them with his complaint to the Pollution Control Board, besides sharing them with the media. The officials often act swiftly to clear the waste, but what’s worrying is that they don’t identify and catch the culprits, Pughal says.
“I take so much effort to identify the dumping of biomedical waste but what hurts me is that the officials do not catch the culprits. They merely clean the place every time,” he points out. He further expresses concern that no investigation was conducted though he raised multiple complaints with the Chief Minister’s cell. “I even continue to file RTIs to seek information on what action was taken,” he adds. Pughal was also active in identifying the dumping of biomedical waste during the lockdown, and he flagged several locations.
His work brought to light the severity of open dumping of waste at a time when Covid was spreading rapidly in the city. He says he found medicines, gloves, syringes and PPE kits, among other things being improperly disposed carelessly. “Cows chew on garbage, and such waste dumped in the open poses a huge risk to animals and humans both directly and indirectly. The needles and medicines may hurt these animals, and the milk we consume from these cows could be contaminated,” he warns.
Pughal asserts that people ought to understand the importance of dumping biomedical waste in the open like this. “Sometimes when I show the newspaper reports to my parents, they ask why I do this when I have studied aeronautical engineering. So I sit down and explain things to them,” Pughal says. He adds that his activism will continue and society must take garbage-related issues seriously.
“Youngsters especially, need to learn about the different types of waste and how to segregate them properly. Better awareness on these subjects would make way for a cleaner society,” he concludes.