TIRUNELVELI: In a first, the Kerala government on Sunday transported 18 trucks of its biomedical waste - mostly originating from the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) and Credence Hospital - that was illegally dumped in Tirunelveli district back to the state.
The action follows a direction from the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which took suo motu cognisance of the matter based on a TNIE report published on December 17.
The neighbouring state will continue its efforts to clear its waste from the six villages of Kodaganallur, Palavoor, Kondanagaram, Sivaniyapuram, Elanthaikulam and Thidiyur in the district on Monday as well.
Fifty officials from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Thiruvananthapuram district administration and corporation arrived in Tirunelveli on Sunday morning with 16 trucks to remove the illegally dumped biomedical, plastic, food and other waste and transport it back.
At 9:50 am, after talks at Government Girls' High School in Nadukallur, officials from both states formed six teams, including local tahsildars, block development officers and police personnel, and began the process of removing the waste using earthmovers.
At the Kerala team's request, the Tamil Nadu team arranged for two additional trucks to transport the waste.
Tirunelveli Collector Dr K P Karthikeyan told reporters the Kerala team was cooperating with local officials and would remove all the waste dumped in different villages.
"The TN government has taken the necessary steps to ensure this waste is removed, considering the environmental impact. Stringent action will be taken against anti-social elements who illegally dumped the waste here," he said.
"The TN police will accompany these trucks till the Kerala border, and Kollam police will take over from their limit in Kerala. Six to seven loads of waste, still left at the dumping sites, will be removed on Monday. A team of Kerala officials have stayed back in Tirunelveli for this," he added.
The collector said soil at the sites will be disinfected and samples will be collected from the water body where waste was found.
Regarding steps taken towards preventing recurrence of such incidents, Karthikeyan said, "Kanniyakumari and Tenkasi districts have 16 and two check posts respectively. Kerala also has some at the border. Security has been beefed up at all of them. We will also take measures based on NGT's instructions."
Culprits on the run
Meanwhile, the Tirunelveli police has registered six FIRs - three in Suthamalli police station, one each in Seethaparpanallur, Mukkudal and Munneerpallam police stations - and arrested five persons for illegally dumping waste from Kerala in the respective villages.
The accused were identified as Manoharan and Mayandi from Suthamalli, Chelladurai from Salem district, Sathananthan and Jithan George from Kerala. Cops, who seized one of the trucks used to bring the waste to TN, have launched a search for other culprits.
On December 16, TNIE visited two of the affected villages and escalated the issue to the district administration and police, leading to two cases being filed at the Suthamalli police station after a 37-day delay.
Following TNIE's detailed report, published on December 17, the NGT took suo motu action, directing the Kerala government to either transport the waste back or employ a waste management firm to carry out the task.
