TIRUCHY: Even as the team of about 50 fire and rescue services personnel following an operation that lasted through the night managed to bring under control by Wednesday the ravaging fire that broke out at the corporation dump yard in Ariyamangalam the previous afternoon, the cloud of smoke from the garbage pile which continued to blanket the locality and its neighbourhood forced residents to shift to safety and school students to miss classes.
While pedestrians and motorists alike on Kalkandar Kottai Road and streets in Ambikapuram were found struggling to find their way through the smoke, a private school in the locality near the dump yard, in view of students’ safety, decided to remain closed on Wednesday and the succeeding day. Locals demanded stringent action against those responsible for the fire. K Vigneshwaran, who resides in an apartment on Kalkandar Kottai Road, said, "The area continuing to be blanketed by smoke is causing a lot of inconvenience. I hence sent my parents off to my sister's house, considering their health."
When enquired, a senior corporation official said, "The recent incident (fire) occurred due to mindless burning of waste by some scrap dealers operating out of a slum near the yard. The police will take action against them. The fire is under control. The garbage pile, however, continues to emit smoke due to windy conditions. We are expecting this too to be brought under control by Wednesday night."
P Manikam of Ambikapuram said, “Bearing the incident in mind, the corporation should stop sending any more waste to Ariyamangalam. We fear that continuing to dump it in the yard would prolong the bio-mining (reclamation of the site by treating and clearing its garbage), leading to years before the site is rid of its garbage.”
According to sources, around 20 tonnes of non-segregated waste continue to be dumped in the yard every day. A senior civic body official, who inspected the firefighting operations at the yard, however, dismissed such fears. "We commenced bio-mining at Ariyamangalam in 2019. We didn’t face any fire outbreaks in the yard in the past three years. The team concerned also processes the waste reaching the yard and this would not delay the bio-mining. We expect to clear the remaining waste in the yard this year itself. The recent fire was due to the mindless burning of waste at a spot which is about 50 metres away from the yard," the official said.