Dumpyard in Manapparai triggers health concerns among residents

The unbearable stench from garbage pile-ups, fire outbreaks and unbridled movement of stray animals besides the mosquito menace at the Sevalur dump yard in Manapparai in Tiruchi district have raised serious concern among residents.

The mounds of garbage pose health risks to the people living in the residential colonies near the dump yard. With the rise in temperature during daytime, there are chances of fire outbreak again, claim the residents.

In the past five years, over 10 fire breakouts have occurred at the dump yard, leaving residents breathing contaminated air. A fire that broke out in the dump yard during the summer of 2017 triggered a health alarm among the residents.

“It took more than a day to douse the flames after the uncleared garbage pile caught fire. The smoke from the fire choked the locals and workers, causing suffocation, respiratory and lung issues,” said R. Murugavel, a resident of Sevalur. “After the incident, the authorities promised to initiate and expedite the biomining project to segregate and process accumulated solid waste, yet the process remains slow.”

Meanwhile, the Municipality Corporation has roped in a private firm to execute the biomining project with a scheduled deadline of one year from the date of issuance of the work order. It began processing and clearing the garbage in December.

A sum of ₹1.7 crore was sanctioned for the project to clear over 17,000 metric tonne of waste from the 1.45 acre of land. “The waste management company which took up the contract completed the preliminary works to assess the exact quantity of waste and commenced work to clear it,” S.N. Siyamala, Municipal Commissioner, told The Hindu.

“During rainfall, it was difficult to process waste, so there was a slight delay. We have asked the firm to improve segregation and hasten the biomining of legacy waste,” she added.

According to a sanitary inspector of the civic body, waste segregation is the only solution to control fire, especially during summer. He said the waste collected must be split into wet, dry, household, hazardous, electronic waste and sanitary wastes to avoid fire outbreaks.

The project has turned out to be a great relief for the residents as fire outbreaks during summer would be prevented. After the process, the recovered land, which was used for dumping garbage collected from different parts of the municipality, would be used to improve the area’s green cover, the officials said.