THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Intensified border checking by Tamil Nadu coupled with interventions by the Tamil Nadu High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) have left the local bodies in Kerala grappling with waste management. On the other hand, the strict actions have led to pig farmers across the border shifting their units to Kerala.
According to pig farmers and private service providers, Tamil Nadu has seized around 30 vehicles laden with waste during cross-border checking from Kerala in the past two months. Several pig farms run by Keralites in the bordering areas in Tamil Nadu have landed in trouble due to shortage of pig feed following restrictions on transportation of food waste from Kerala.
Arjun K R, who has farms in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala, said that the farmers who invested in pig farms in Tamil Nadu have landed in deep trouble. “Many farms are winding up operations because of the ongoing issues and many are planning to move their base to Kerala as its becoming impossible to operate from Tamil Nadu,” said Arjun.
The recent directive from the Tamil Nadu High Court to auction the waste-transporting vehicles seized by TN authorities too has come as a heavy blow to the farmers and service providers. “I have approached the TN High Court seeking a solution to the issue of pig feed. I’ve also pointed out that one of my vehicles has been seized. The pig farmers incur heavy loss because of violations committed by one agency,” said Arjun.
Meanwhile, the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation received 11 new applications from pig farms to start units here. “When we started roping in pig farms, around 60 percent of pigs were in Tamil Nadu and now the trend is changing and we have received around 11 new applications.
The processing is ongoing,” said an official of the corporation. Once the civic body clears the application, around 1,600 new pigs will be added to the existing count.
The service providers collect an average of 50 tonnes of food waste from various bulk waste generators, including hotels, every day as pig feeds. “Owing to restrictions on cross border movement of vehicles, the service providers are depending on small pig farmers in the district.
The government has revised the legal provisions and included pig farms in the green category so that more farms can get legal status,” the official added. Each adult pig consumes around 8 to 10 kg of food every day. The veterinary surgeon under the civic body is visiting the farms and taking stock of the farms to find out the actual requirement.