Chitlapakkam dump yard may soon be a thing of the past

Residents had reported a fire at the dump yard on Sunday. While the landfill is covered with a large mass of plastic waste, residents blame the civic body for the snail pace at which the lake retrieval is being done. A long-time resident and member of the Chitlapakkam Rising group, Sunil Jayaram, said, “This is the third fire in the last couple of years and we suspect that it is someone from the local body doing it to get rid of the garbage at the earliest. However, the officials have said that it is an accidental fire and it could have happened because of a lit cigarette.”

Jayaram said that the landfill, a result of long-time dumping by both residents and the local bodies, has caused the death of a beautiful and pristine lake. “We have an active PIL in the High Court seeking the retrieval of the lake. Today, the originally 100-acre lake has been reduced to a mere 50 acres. Many of them dumping in the landfill don’t know there is a lake adjoining the space. In fact, when I visited the place on Sunday, I noticed at least seven people coming there with garbage to be dumped,” he added.

A similar fire had broken out in the area in May last year and the residents were told it would get extinguished on its own. “They have covered the plastic waste with a layer of soil on top of it. They seem to be in a hurry to get rid of the dump yard, but this is certainly is not the right way,” he added.

However, Chitlapakkam Town Panchayat officials have denied the charges, adding that the emphasis has been on source segregation to reduce the load that comes to the dump yard. “We have already removed 1,500 loads of garbage from the landfill and there is a little more left to be removed. These have accumulated over the last three decades. If the public segregate or compost the waste the extend of pollution will decrease. A board also has been put up at the spot and we are keen on penalising those who violate the rules,” M Venkatesh, Executive Officer, Town Panchayat said.