Several villages in Thiruvallur district are reeling under the health hazards caused by the garbage generated and dumped by the Avadi municipality.
Sekkadu village
Avadi — one of the biggest municipalities in Thiruvallur district, comprising Avadi Heavy Vehicle Factory, Muthapudupet, Thirumullaivoyal, Villinchiyambakkam, Thandurai, Sekkadu, Paruthipattu and Govardanagiri — has a garbage-cum-compost yard at Sekkadu village.
The dumping yard has become a health hazard because of lack of segregation of waste, despite having a segregating station, and burning of garbage.
Activist K. Mugundhan said the dumping yard had become a health concern for the residents of villages, including Mettukuppam, Soranchery, Kolappancheri and Ayalcheri. Villagers find it difficult to sleep at night because of the noxious fumes from the burning garbage.
Adding to the health hazards is the problem of water contamination because the dumping yard is adjacent to the Cooum river. He complained that in spite of the municipality constructing a segregation yard the garbage is not being segregated.
100 pipes
A senior official of the Avadi municipality denied that garbage was being burned there.
He said they had installed more than 100 pipes for allowing the noxious gas to escape from the garbage yard that contains more than 150 metric tonnes of garbage.
He said security personnel had been posted at the garbage yard to prevent intruders.
The absence of garbage dumping yards has resulted in vacant spaces on the arterial roads becoming dumping centres.
With the integrated solid waste management project not taking off, villages in Kattankulathur and St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Unions are disposing of the garbage collected from households along the arterial roads.
Motorists using GST Road point to the vacant site near Urapakkam and also Mambakkam Main Road in Vengaivasal.
Village panchayats officials cite difficulty in finding space for the dumping yard the reason for dumping waste along the roads.
However, officials of these blocks are hopeful that the State government will implement the project for converting waste to energy similar to the one at Venkatamangalam.
Villagers find it difficult to sleep at night because of the noxious fumes from the burning garbage
