Officials inspect Somayampalayam dump yard in TN, suggest construction of electric fence

COIMBATORE: The Somayampalayam dump yard at the foothills of Maruthamalai in Coimbatore, which caught fire on Thursday night, was inspected by a team of forest and revenue department officials and officials from the local body on Friday night.

The team, led by the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Periyanaickenpalayam union, didn’t suggest relocation of the dump yard and proposed the construction of a compound wall and electric fencing for the site to prevent intrusion of miscreants into the dump yard, according to sources.

A fire was reported from the open dumping site on Thursday evening, which covered the entire area with smoke and sparked fears of wild animal intrusion into the residential areas, which was completely doused by Friday morning.

Locals alleged that a herd of elephants, which was supposed to move from the Maruthamalai side to the Boluvampatti Valley, could not continue their journey due to the fire and had demanded the authorities to shift the dump yard as it is situated close to the forest boundary and it affects the wildlife.

Coimbatore Collector GS Sameeran had ordered the revenue team to inspect the dump yard to examine the possibilities to prevent such issues in future and based on that, the team inspected the area on Friday evening and has sent back two proposals to prevent intrusion of wild animals, sources said.

Somayampalayam panchayat president KP Rangaraj said, “The open landfill site is spread for around six acres and has solar fencing on both sides, installed by private land owners nearby. The team has suggested installation of electric fencing on the other two sites from where wild animals enter the dump site.”

“Over four tonnes of waste is collected from the Somayampalayam every day and we are forced to dump the waste at the foothills of Maruthamalai due to technical issues in the newly built Micro Compositing Centre. Once the centre begins working, we can recycle at least three tonnes of waste every day. There is no wild animal intrusion into the foothills and some anti-social elements are blaming the panchayat administration for it,” he said.