TIRUNELVELI: A day after the National Green Tribunal directed the Kerala government and its pollution control board to remove biomedical waste dumped in Tirunelveli villages, the district administration on Friday revealed that waste from the neighbouring state had been dumped in two more villages -- Sivaniyarkulam and Vadakku Ariyanayagipuram.
TNIE visited Sivaniyarkulam and spotted blood sample containers with blood, used PPE kits, gloves, plastic covers of surgical items, urinary bags wrapped in the bag of Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Centre.
Earlier, a team from Kerala also visited the five sites where the waste was found so far in Kodaganallur, Palavoor, Sivaniyarkulam, Vadakku Ariyanayagipuram and Kondanagaram. Speaking to reporters, an official from Kerala said he had not seen any dangerous biomedical waste. He said tablet covers were found.
When reporters told him they had seen biomedical waste and had photos, officials denied it. The team from Kerala met District Collector Karthikeyan and assured him that their findings would be submitted to the Kerala government and action would be taken to comply with the NGT order. The collector emphasised the need to thoroughly investigate the source of the waste and hold the culprits accountable.
“If the waste was handed over to a waste management organisation, the Kerala officials must find out who dumped the waste in TN villages. If the waste poses no harm, there would have been no need to incur significant costs to transport it here,” Karthikeyan said.
The team from Kerala included Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Public Health Officer Dr Gopukumar, Kerala State Pollution Control Board Environmental Engineer Bincy, District Environmental Engineer Saba Naseemudeen, assistant engineers Rahul and Mohammed Zakariya and Biomedical Waste Management Organisation’s Siju. The collector said FIRs have been filed at Suthamalli, Seethaparpanallur and Mukkudal police stations. Disinfectants have been sprayed at these locations, he added.
