or residents of southern suburbs, the fire that broke out on Thursday at the dumping ground is not an isolated incident.
They are accustomed to witnessing dumping grounds, many of them unauthorised, catching fire. The fire at Kannadapalayam, which comes under the Tamabaram municipality, was promptly brought under control. But fires in many areas on the southern fringes of the city rarely get the attention they deserve.
Residents of some village panchayats complain of fires in dumping grounds — which are essentially vacant lands expeditiously used for dumping garbage — that smoulder on, unattended for days.
Respiratory problems
Residents of areas proximate to these ‘burning’ dumping grounds complain of respiratory problems.
Recently, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Southern Bench, passed an interim order against dumping of garbage by the Vengaivasal village panchayat, which comes under St. Thomas Mount Block, close to a lake and in residential localities. There have been instances of fires in the garbage pile-ups.
Struggling to find space
“While the bigger municipalities have seen some re-conciliation measures in sight, the village panchayats struggle to find appropriate space executing their solid waste handling facilities and hence the garbage dumping in vacant sites prevails,” says B. Ravi, president of Medavakkam village panchayat, which comes under the St. Thomas Mount Block.
When fires break out in these makeshift dumping grounds, there is hardly any prompt action with the result that people living around them are exposed to noxious fumes that put their health in jeopardy in the long run.
