Brindha Brighton, a resident of Manapakkam, keeps her windows closed, most of the time. She does this to prevent soot from settling inside her house. Garbage is regularly dumped and burnt on a parcel of vacant land near her house.
Other residents whose houses are located proximate to this land, which measures 10 acres, also keep their windows shut.
For the same reason, they don’t use their balconies.
Garbage, which includes biomedical waste, collected at various neighbourhoods are said to be dumped on this land. Manapakkam came under Chennai Corporation limits six years ago, yet the neighbourhood does not have an underground drainage facility. Vehicles that collect sewage from septic tanks at houses in Manapakkam, Gerugambakkam, Kundrathur, Mualiwakkam and Kolapakkam, dump it on this land, instead of taking it to the sewage treatment plant in Koyambedu. Residents suspect that biomedical waste is being dumped and set fire to, at night. “From the smell emanating from the burning waste, we could make out that biomedical waste has been set ablaze,” says Brighton. Residents say that in the last five years, they have made a number of representations to the Councillor, the Chennai Corporation, and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, yet no steps have been taken to stop the practice.“If the owner of the property fences it, this menace will come to an end. We also do not know who the owner is; and we are trying to find out,” says E. Kandasamy, another resident.
