‘Lorries dump sewage on vacant farm lands’

The suburbs of Pammal, Anagakaputhur, Thiruneermalai, Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai do not have an underground drainage system (UDS) forcing the residents to hire private tanker lorries that collect sewage from their septic tanks. 

But, these lorries which are collecting domestic sewage are not downloading them at the sewage treatment plant in Perungudi. Instead, to make the work easier, the lorry owners lorries dump the collected sewage on vacant farm lands or plots in the locality.

This is especially relavent in Karamarajapuram, Anagaputhur, Sirinivasapuram, Pammal and its surrounding areas where residents are facing a really hard time as besides raising a stink, it contaminates ground water. The residents claim that police are also not taking action and state that they can only get involved after getting the complaint from the municipality. 

Ramesh, a resident of Anakaputhur said, “The children in our areas are often falling sick because of this issue, we have asked the municipality many times to control this but no action was taken”.

Public here want the municipality to find the people behind this activity and collect fine amounts from them. “Recently, the Kancheepuram Municipality had collected a fine of Rs 10,000 from a private school for dumping garbage at a lake. We want the Anakaputhur municipality also to do the same,” Ramesh said. 

Asirvatham, Anakaputhur municipal engineer said: “We are watching out for them on a regular basis, we will soon catch them and warn them with a fine. If they continue dumping the sewage in spaces not allocated for this,  they will be sent to the police and be punished under the criminal act”.