The seizure of a lorry from Ettumanur in Kottayam district while dumping waste on the Elappara-Kattappana road at Onnam Mile in the early hours of Sunday has revealed that hazardous waste generated in urban areas is being dumped in the less-inhabited areas of the High Ranges.
The tea estates in Elappara grama panchayat have been turned into a dump for wastes generated in nearby towns and neighbouring districts, posing serious health hazards.
Elappara panchayat president Shaji Jacob told The Hindu on Monday that dumping of waste by the roadside had been a major issue for long. The death of three head of cattle grazing at Bonami after eating wastes a week ago pointed to the fact that toxic wastes were being dumped in the open without grading, he said. Following the incident, the panchayat filed a case against those who dumped waste by the roadside.
Local people blocked the lorry while dumping wastes around 3.30 a.m. and informed the authorities, said Mr. Jacob, adding that the lorry was from the Ettumanur municipal area and carried wastes from slaughterhouses, hotels, textile shops and from gold-making units, which were highly dangerous to human beings. The police seized the lorry, he said.
Disposal of waste generated in the estate areas was a major concern for the panchayat, which lacked land for setting up a dump.
Now, a government-level decision had been taken to set up a treatment plant jointly by the three grama panchayats in Peerumade taluk. Even as the panchayat was discouraging waste disposal in the open by the residents, wastes from neighbouring urban areas, including e-wastes, chemical, and hospital wastes, were being dumped in the panchayat, he said.
This was the fifth time that the same agency, said to be a contractor for collecting wastes from Ettamanur municipality, was dumping waste by the roadside, he said.
Following repeated incidents, the panchayat formed a mobile unit for monitoring disposal of waste in the panchayat areas during night, he said.
In forest areas too
The Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary area, near to the dam in Cheruthoni town, is another place where large-scale waste dumping takes place, posing a threat to wild animals and visitors to the dam. It is alleged that the contractor assigned for collecting wastes from Vazhathoppe grama panchayat, including Cheruthoni, Painavu, Thadiyampadu and Maniyarankudy, was disposing the waste inside the forest area.
