Chennai: The Corporation of Chennai has submitted before the green tribunal for the third time that it is unable to find an alternative site to relocate the Nolambur dumping yard, which is situated on the banks of the Cooum river.
The civic body told the Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday that it was facing difficulties in locating an alternative dumping site and needed more time. The corporation has been saying this for the last six months and exhausted two interim reliefs granted by the NGT, which earlier had ordered an injunction restraining the civic body from using the Cooum river banks for dumping garbage.
The bench, comprising its judicial member Justice P. Jyothimani and expert member R. Nagendran, gave the corporation a last opportunity till August 5 to relocate the dumping yard. It added that the Nolambur dumping yard should be used only as a transit site and the civic authorities should transport all the waste collected daily to Perungudi dumping yard without leaving anything on the banks of Cooum.
Over 200 tonnes of garbage is estimated to be collected at Nolambur every day. The bench also issued directions to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to monitor the transport of garbage and ensure zero left over. The green bench also asked the corporation to convene a meeting of the residents of Nolambur and seek their suggestion on alternative sites. The petitioner V. Prabhakaran was also directed to participate in the process and explore the possibility of locating an alternative site.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that there have been several directions by the courts as well as by the NGT, preventing the setting up of dump yards on the river banks. In fact, the corporation has evicted a fish market in the area as during every monsoon the area gets flooded. “The dump yard is no better than a fish market. Tonnes of garbage will enter the Cooum river, if it rains”, the petitioner’s counsel stated in the court.
The NGT, on September 30, 2014 had ordered an injunction for six months restraining the corporation from using the site for dumping of garbage. However, the stay order was modified on request of the corporation in March this year allowing the authority to use the site as transit point. However, the residents are not happy and want the dump yard to be permanently relocated in view of high health risk factors.
