THOOTHUKUDI: Following an order from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the contractors working under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently cleared the waste, including gloves, discarded under the Vallanadu bridge along river Thamirabarani.
NHAI had deployed a contractor to rectify issues in the faulty suspension bridge built across river Thamirabarani on Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli NH. The workers used gloves for the chemical-coating work and later discarded them at the river banks. A huge amount of gloves and plastic waste generated by the contract workers, had accumulated along the banks polluting the river course.
Following a complaint lodged by activist Sugan Christopher, TNPCB District Environmental Engineer S Sathiaraj directed the NHAI to stop discarding waste along the river banks and clear the used gloves from the area.
It may be noted that Murappanadu police had booked Harsha, the project manager of FRP Tect India Pvt Ltd, under section 277 (voluntarily corrupts or fouls the water of any public spring) of IPC for dumping tar removed from the road into the river last November 2022.