The Times of India 22.06.2010
Burning of garbage continues to trouble BV Nagar residents
CHENNAI: The St Thomas Mount and Pallavaram Cantonment Board continues to burn garbage in its dumping yard despite complaints and protests from the 10,000 residents. Thick smoke from burning garbage is causing health problems for residents of the area.
In March this year, more than 2,000 residents from Bhatavatchalam (BV) Nagar, Kadhar Thotam, Viswanathapuram, Venugopalapuram, SBI Colony, Hindu Colony and Ranga Colony staged a protest near the dump yard.
The Alandur municipality has also urged the cantonment board to shift the dump yard and convert the existing yard into a park. “Even the state labour minister, who is a local MLA, and Kancheepuram collector have asked the board not to burn the garbage in the open and shift the yard,” Alandur municipality chairman A Duraivelu said.
The 11-acre yard belongs to the St Thomas Mount and Pallavaram Cantonment Board, the second oldest of the 62 cantonment boards in the country after the Barrackpore Cantonment Board. It has been used as a dump yard since 1920. The yard is now located in the Alandur municipality limits, putting the local body in a tight spot. Its residents suffer from the stench of garbage and smoke but the municipality is powerless as the plot belongs to the cantonment board.
“We raise the issue at the monthly council meeting but there has been no end to the dumping and burning of garbage,” said E Ullaganathan, councillor (25th ward) of the municipality.
In December 2009, the board decided to set up a solid waste management project and entered into an agreement with a Kancheepuram-based NGO. Based on a public-private partnership model, the Rs 25-lakh project was supposed to implement a scientific method of garbage collection, segregation and disposal for the 10 tonnes of garbage generated in the board every day.
However, the project has not taken off as the board could not find the 4,800 square feet space needed for the plant. The existing yard cannot be used as engineers said they could not lay a concrete floor there as years of dumping garbage has made the plot unusable. Sources in the Board said they burnt the garbage as there was not space.
In March this year, more than 2,000 residents from Bhatavatchalam (BV) Nagar, Kadhar Thotam, Viswanathapuram, Venugopalapuram, SBI Colony, Hindu Colony and Ranga Colony staged a protest near the dump yard.
The Alandur municipality has also urged the cantonment board to shift the dump yard and convert the existing yard into a park. “Even the state labour minister, who is a local MLA, and Kancheepuram collector have asked the board not to burn the garbage in the open and shift the yard,” Alandur municipality chairman A Duraivelu said.
The 11-acre yard belongs to the St Thomas Mount and Pallavaram Cantonment Board, the second oldest of the 62 cantonment boards in the country after the Barrackpore Cantonment Board. It has been used as a dump yard since 1920. The yard is now located in the Alandur municipality limits, putting the local body in a tight spot. Its residents suffer from the stench of garbage and smoke but the municipality is powerless as the plot belongs to the cantonment board.
“We raise the issue at the monthly council meeting but there has been no end to the dumping and burning of garbage,” said E Ullaganathan, councillor (25th ward) of the municipality.
In December 2009, the board decided to set up a solid waste management project and entered into an agreement with a Kancheepuram-based NGO. Based on a public-private partnership model, the Rs 25-lakh project was supposed to implement a scientific method of garbage collection, segregation and disposal for the 10 tonnes of garbage generated in the board every day.
However, the project has not taken off as the board could not find the 4,800 square feet space needed for the plant. The existing yard cannot be used as engineers said they could not lay a concrete floor there as years of dumping garbage has made the plot unusable. Sources in the Board said they burnt the garbage as there was not space.
