The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) Southern Bench has taken serious note of the lapses of municipal officials from southern suburbs on garbage dumps in their respective areas.
The officials from Sembakkam, Pallavaram, and Tambaram Municipalities were in for severe criticism for not adhering to their assurances. The Bench was hearing a set of petitions from Sembakkam Civic Welfare Association, S.P. Surendranath Karthik of Madipakkam, and Kannadapalayam Residents Welfare Association on issues pertaining to garbage handling by these municipalities.
The Bench imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on Tambaram Municipality for not initiating any progress on removal of garbage from Kannadapalayam dump-yard and ordered for removal of sheds inside the Sembakkam lake-bed within 15 days. Similarly, the Pallavaram Municipality was pulled up for dumping tree branches on the lakebed.
Rejuvenation ordered
These municipalities have already filed their replies in which they said the wastes collected from households were sent to Waste to Energy centre functioning at Venkatamangalam village near Vandalur. Based on their submissions, the NGT ordered for rejuvenation of Pallavaram Periya Eri, Sembakkam Lake and asked for removal garbage mounds from Kannadapalayam.
A Tambaram Municipality official said, “We have assessed the quantity of waste for estimation of bio-mining. As the Waste to Energy project is under progress, which comprising of scientific closure of the existing dumpyards.
Now we are expecting the work to be carried out along with phase II of the project, which include Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to Power.”
Refuse-derived fuel is a fuel produced from various types of wastes such as Municipal Solid wastes (MSW), industrial wastes or commercial wastes, which can be used for generating power, which in turn could be used for minimising the expenditure for the concessionaire.
Pallavaram Municipality officials told that action would be initiated to remove the tree branches from the lake side.
