Chennai: After the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed Kerala to take back the medical wastes dumped in villages in the state, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said steps had already been taken, including notifying it to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPB) to take action in this regard.
In a statement here, Mr Thennarasu said it was during the last decade during AIADMK rule that Tamil Nadu became Kerala’s garbage dump, with medical waste being illegally brought from Kerala and dumped in the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border areas including Coimbatore, Theni, Tirunelveli, and Virudhunagar.
The Minister, while accusing the main Opposition AIADMK of doing politics on the issue, said in 2019, in Inam Karisalkulam village near Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, people captured trucks that were bringing garbage from Kerala and dumping it in lorries.
Since the formation of the Dravidian model government led by Chief Minister M K Stalin in May 2021, the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border has been intensively monitored and the entry of Kerala waste into Tamil Nadu has been largely prevented.
He said strict action was also being taken against those who dump the waste.
Immediate action was also taken on one or two unexpected incidents and the culprits involved are being punished as per the law.
Recently, after receiving a complaint about illegal dumping of waste from Kerala in the Kallur areas of Tirunelveli district, prompt action was taken, and two persons, Manoharan and Mayandi, from Suttamalli village, who dumped the waste, were arrested.
A letter has been sent on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to the Central Pollution Control Board to take appropriate action to prevent the dumping of Kerala medical waste in Tamil Nadu and to issue orders in this regard to the Kerala Pollution Control Board.
On the orders of the Chief Minister, the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border areas are being intensively monitored.
Meanwhile, the NGT on Thursday directed Kerala to take back and dispose off the medical and other solid wastes within three days.
In a suo motu action, the Bench comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati said the waste from the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Thiruvananthapuram, and other institutions, dumped recently in the forest areas Tirunelveli district close to the inter-state border would pose a grave threat to the wild animals and affect the environment.
Arguing that Kerala is dumping the wastes with impunity, TN government pleader D Shanmuganathan cited the earlier instances and said the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had failed to comply with the earlier orders of the NGT regarding dumping of bio-medical waste in Nanguneri, in Tirunelveli district.
Counsel for KSPCB VK Remasmrithi, while admitting that the waste dumped in Tirunelveli district was from Kerala, said that it was done by unauthorised entities and that show-cause notices have been issued to the RCC and others.
She also submitted that the demands of the TNPCB were being addressed in earnest, following which the Bench adjourned the matter to December 23 with a direction to the Kerala government to file a compliance report on clearing the dumped waste in Tirunelveli district within three days and send them to authorised treatment facilities either in Kerala or Tamil Nadu.
In the event of Tamil Nadu expressing its inability, the waste should be taken back to Kerala, the Bench said before adjourning further hearing on the matter.
