Corporation may dump Perungudi, Kodungaiyur garbage yards

A strong push for the initiative came from the central government, which held a meeting recently with representatives from 20 cities, to close dump yards. Following this move, the Corporation has already commissioned a detailed project report (DPR) on the subject. M Vijayalakshmi, Deputy Commissioner, Health, said, “We will most likely go for bio-remediation. The DPR, which is expected to be ready by December, will throw light on the technologies that can be used to close the dump yards.” 

The city’s garbage, which is 4,500 MTs per day, lands up in the dump yards in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi. 

Residents in these localities say the dump yard has created monumental problems — from the problem of houseflies and other pests to contaminated ground water. Entrepreneur Sajeevan Putharikal, who resides a kilometre away from the Perungudi dump yard, said garbage burnt in the night makes the area quite smoky. “Residents living in areas like Telephone Nagar, Sai Nagar, Rajeev Nagar among others, suffer most as they are close to the dump yard,” said Sajeevan, who has been living in Perungudi for more than three decades. “Back then, Perungudi was a haven but after the IT boom in the 90s, it became congested and the dump yard too came into existence to deal with the city’s mounting trash problems,” he added. 

Environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman said these dump yards have caused ongoing and historical harm. “If the government is amenable to closing dump yards, action should also be taken to implement the solid waste management rules and plastics waste rules. If the Corporation is looking seriously at this, they will get a lot of support from the civil society. These dumps are situated in places where certain categories of people live and this is not acceptable,” said the activist.