TIRUPPUR: R Sathish Kumar, a farmer and state secretary of the legal awareness wing of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Association started an indefinite strike on Monday night against the dumping of garbage in a stone quarry in Pongupalayam. The protest continued on Tuesday.
Sources said that the Tiruppur Corporation has 60 wards and about 700 tonnes of garbage is collected daily from all the wards. 160 tonnes of waste is sent to the Micro Composting Centres (MCC) and the others are dumped in an abandoned stone quarry in Pongupalayam. However, the locals and social activists have opposed this and blamed the corporation alleging it is causing environmental issues.
Kumar had also filed a case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT-Southern Zone) against the dumping of waste in the quarry and it is under trial.
In this context, Kumar started a hunger strike near the quarry on Monday night.
Kumar said, “In Pongupalayam, the locals depend on groundwater through borewells for their daily needs. Waste dumping and potential contamination of groundwater will exacerbate this crisis, making clean drinking water inaccessible.
Dumping untreated municipal, medical, and industrial waste, including hazardous foundry waste, will severely impact the soil quality, water resources, and crop productivity, jeopardising the livelihood of farmers. So, the corporation administration should stop dumping waste in the quarry.”
A senior official from the Tiruppur Corporation, said, “The corporation also does not want to dump garbage in the quarry. We are taking alternative measures for that. But it will take some time.”