The Times of India 22.11.2010
Perungudi waste project remains a non-starter
CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation's integrated solid waste management project at the Perungudi dump site remauis a non-starter almost five months after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board gave its nod. The National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA), which issued an interim stay on the project, is now defunct.
According to official sources, the National Green Tribunal set up to replace the NEAA, is yet to have a formal meeting to take up the cases transferred from the latter. The interim stay was granted following an appeal by the Save Pallikarnai Forum, a group of volunteers spearheading the campaign against dumping of tonnes of unsegregated waste in the marshland. The ecologically sensitive area, according to them, had suffered extensive damage.
The National Green Tribunal was officially notified by its chairperson, Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta on October 19. Hundreds of appeals pending with the NEAA, on various environmental concerns, have thus come to the Tribunal. "We are aware of the transfer of Perungudi case to the Tribunal. Till the tribunal has a formal sitting, the stay remains," corporation commissioner D Karthikeyan told TOI.Save Pallikarnai Marshland Forum, represented by V Srinivasan, in its prayer wanted the NEAA to stall the project since the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, recommends central government clearance for projects proposed to be located within 10 km of the boundary of reserved forests, or a designated ecologically sensitive area, or within 25 km of the boundary of a national park or sanctuary.
The Forum's contention is that the Perungudi project is close to the Pallikarnai wetland, Guindy Park and reserve forest area, thus violating environment rules. "The dumping yard has to be removed from the marshland. Leachates (solution percolating from a solid material) from tonnes of accumulated waste polluted the ground water for almost three decades now and the residents of Sai Nagar, Telephone Nagar and MC Nagar have been getting water unfit for consumption," Srinivasan told TOI.
The official version is that the National Green Tribunal, exclusively dedicated to environmental issues, will comprise a ten-member expert committee from the field of environment and related sciences. The panel will have circuit benches across the country to try all matters related to and arising out of environmental issues. For the Chennai corporation, the high-cost solid waste management project is expected to be an answer to the city's mounting garbage crisis.
