GCC officials' trip to controversial WTE plant in Hyderabad receives flak from North Chennai residents

CHENNAI: To further the campaign on generating energy from waste and tackling the growing mounds at the dump yards of the city, a high-level delegation led by Mayor R Priya made a one-day visit to witness and observe the operation of Solid Waste Management (SWM) and Waste to Energy (WTE) plant functions in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The team visited the process of solid waste management at the processing centre at Jagadgirigutta and witnessed the process that is being carried out in the WTE plant at Jawahar Nagar in Medchal-Malkajgiri, Telangana.

Meanwhile, the visit by the civic body delegation to Telangana did not sit well among the residents and activists in north Chennai, where the Chennai Corporation is planning to replicate a similar Hyderabad model. The communities near the WTE plant in Hyderabad condemned the plant operation, causing respiratory issues, skin allergies and contamination of water bodies and farming lands. The members had also shared the reports on pollution with activists in Chennai.

The Federation of North Chennai Residents Welfare Association (FNCRWA) alleged that plans were being made to set up a new incinerator plant at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi. The association has also planned a human chain protest to register their stance on May 25.

"On one side, the GCC visits the SWM and WTE plant works, but the residents in Telengana's Jawahar Nagar oppose the WTE plant with an incineration capacity of 24 MW, which is already operational," said TK Shanmugham, president, FNCRWA.

A report titled "Living in Poison", shared by activists in Telangana, had also gone viral among Chennai activists and RWAs. The report alleged that residents of Jawahar Nagar in Hyderabad were living in inhumane and dire conditions caused by the Waste-to-Energy plant and dumping yard.

Shanmugham pointed out the pattern of respiratory and skin problems caused by the fine ashes emanating from the WTE plant mixing with the air, as quoted in the report.

A recent groundwater test conducted in one of the wards in Hyderabad's Jawaharnagar, within 400–500 metres of the facility, revealed alarming levels of contamination. The green cover, resembling a small forest with a thriving ecosystem, that was located about 10 metres from the landfill, is now crumbling due to the impact of the plant. When the waste dries at the dump yard, it releases water called leachate, which should be treated. The report questions if the due process is followed as it flows directly into the pond adjacent to the Jawaharnagar plant.

The civic body delegation included GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran, deputy mayor M Magesh Kumaar, additional commissioner (health) V Jaya Chandra Bhanu Reddy, Tambaram corporation commissioner S Balachander, five councillors from GCC, among other officials of both Chennai and Hyderabad municipal corporations.