Pig farm inside Thiruvananthapuram's Palode forest range turns waste dumping site
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Waste from the city is polluting not just the lanes and areas nearby, rather it has reached the district’s interior parts at least 50 kilometres away. Forests now serve as dumping grounds for heaps of plastic waste, some of which even buried beneath the soil, as seen in the woods adjoining Pangode, Kallara, in Thiruvananthapuram district.
People from the locality have alleged that a pig farm set up inside the Palode forest range has led to the dumping of waste, including plastic collected from different parts of the city, inside the forest.
The worst part: waste matter from this sloping area has been seeping into the water channel below, which ultimately joins the Vamanapuram river, the city’s longest water body.
The farm was inspected by the Pollution Control Board (PCB) a week ago, following which a directive was sent to recall the consent given to the farm, officials from the board said, “A substantial volume of plastic waste has been found at the site,” Vamanapuram MLA D K Murali said, adding to the concerns raised by residents.
The legislator said no safeguard measures have been followed to prevent the seepage of waste into the water body, which is now black in colour.
“Multiple water projects, including drinking water schemes, are active in the Vamanapuram river,” he pointed out. Even wells in houses located along the river have been contaminated as a result of the seepage, the MLA said.
Pangode panchayat president Shafi M M said the licence of the farm has not been renewed for the past two financial years because of the pollution issue.
“The situation here is now worse than how Vilappilsala was in the past,” Shafi said. He said a case is currently before the Kerala High Court, with evidence of the pollution in Pangodu set to be produced before the court in the coming week. “Nobody is against the setting up of a pig farm, but it becomes an issue when used for other purposes,” Shafi said.
Meanwhile, Range Forest Officer Vipin Kumar said human-animal conflicts have been on the rise in the locality lately. “The possibility of wild boars getting attracted to the smell of waste cannot be disregarded,” the officer said. In July, forest department officials twice nabbed waste being transported towards the forest area.
A source said multiple notices were sent to the pig farm owners, citing pollution. Over the past two months, a protest council has been active to prevent the dumping of waste in the area. “The vast area of the land acquired by the farm authorities is being used to dig pits and fill them with this waste,” said Unnikrishnan, general convenor of the protest council.
Mentioning that even schools use water from the river for their requirements, he said people came together for a mass movement when their drinking water started getting affected. Another local resident, Akash, said the place had been stinking for a long time. He said the stink has however come down recently because of the measures initiated by the government. People have also claimed that septage has been dumped here, which government agencies are yet to validate.
“A joint inspection was carried out by the Pollution Control Board and the panchayat secretary, and we unearthed waste matter from there,” said district pollution officer Saba Nizamudden.