TIRUNELVELI: Nearly 37 days after complaints were filed against miscreants who dumped biomedical, food, plastic and other waste from Kerala in Kodaganallur and Palavoor villages, the Suthamalli police registered two cases on Thursday night.
The unidentified miscreants were booked under Sections 271 and 272 of the BNS and Section 15 (1) of the Environment Protection Act, based on complaints by Palavoor Village Administrative Officer Sayed Ali and Kodaganallur-based private farm supervisor J Santhanam.
Santhanam filed his first complaint with the Suthamalli police on November 11 and alerted the Kodaganallur VAO and village assistant. However, the police and revenue officials ignored his complaint. He then complained to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell on December 2, which also did not yield any results. Soon after TNIE visited the waste dumping sites in both villages and spoke with higher officials, Santhanam and Ali were called to the police station and cases were registered.
In the FIR copy accessed by TNIE, the police mentioned that Santhanam delayed filing the complaint and there was no direct mention of the biomedical waste in the FIR, despite the waste containing syringes, used blood-sample containers, blood-stained cotton and other medical waste.
When contacted by TNIE, Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police N Silambarasan said he would inquire why the police had not registered a case based on Santhanam’s first complaint. District Collector Dr K P Karthikeyan said,
“The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the rural development department have taken steps to analyse the waste and handle it appropriately. The police are investigating the matter by examining CCTV footage and other evidence. As per government directives, strict criminal action will be taken against those responsible.”
Political parties express condemnation
Local functionaries of various political parties, including the AIADMK, BJP, NTK and SDPI, inspected the waste dumps and condemned the act. NTK functionaries, led by Tirunelveli constituency joint secretary M Mari Shankar, petitioned the district administration, demanding the arrest of the culprits and the removal of the biomedical waste.
BJP state president K Annamalai, in a post on X, alleged that the DMK has given a free hand to miscreants to dump Kerala’s waste in Tamil Nadu and has not taken any action against the smuggling of minerals to Kerala. “The complaint to the CM’s cell has been ignored in this regard. If the dumping of Kerala waste continues, we will bring it back to Kerala in trucks,” he added.