Chennai: Tambaram Corporation to pay Rs 21 lakh fine – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has directed Tambaram Corporation to pay 21 lakh as compensation for defying National Green Tribunal’s order on effective solid waste disposal.
For more than 11 years, waste collected from residential units and commercial complexes in and around Thiruneermalai was dumped adjacent to the banks of the Adyar river.
According to official data, Thiruneermalai, with a population of 40,000 people, on an average generates around nine tonnes of waste every day. Of this, only one tonne of waste is recycled properly, and another two tonnes are used for making manure. The rest is dumped near the water body.
Since this site posed a public health hazard, residents of the area in 2016 approached the NGT Southern Zone, which directed authorities not to dump waste there and clear the accumulated waste by adopting scientific methods.
Thiruneermalai Town Panchayat roped in private firm Allwin Dumpyard Segregation to biomine the accumulated (or legacy) waste. Biomining is the process of converting old dump yard material into reusable resources using bio-organisms.
The state government four years ago sanctioned 78 lakh for clearing the 8,600 cubic metres of waste dumped in Thiruneermalai. But Anna University, which studied the area in 2020, said the local body was yet to clear 58% of the legacy waste.
The local body claimed it was expediting the waste processing process and constructed compound walls, cement floors to prevent seepage or leachate into the ground and mixing with the river.
Against this backdrop, NGT set March 2021 as the deadline to complete biomining. TNPCB, which inspected the site in September 2021, found the process incomplete.
The town panchayat dumped the waste at the rear of the site, said the report submitted before the tribunal by the board. So, it recommended 21 lakh as compensation for causing damage to the environment through ineffective waste disposal.
The Tambaram Corporation, which now includes Thiruneermalai town panchayat, should pay the amount before the next hearing of the case on February 24.