Medical waste dumped into Puzhal water irk locals

Though many residents and activists have flagged the issue of biomedical waste being dumped into public places no action has been taken yet by the local bodies and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the residents said. “After receiving the information that the public found waste in the surplus water from Puzhal, we watched closely, it looks like plastics and silica-based products used for making bottles and flasks dumped into the surplus lake water. Also, there are boxes that contain biomedical waste. We also found that the cattle and dogs are consuming medical waste here and if it continues within a few months there will only be plastics and chemicals found inside the stomach of the cattle,” said Pughazhvendan, an activist. Despite complain from the public to the local body and TNPCB, they have not inspected the place nor have cleared the dump, the residents alleged. “This is a regular issue where biomedical waste is dumped in trucks late at night. Even we have witnessed a couple of times and informed the local body with video proof yet they failed to act on it,” said Balaji V, a resident of Kavangarai. Similarly, on Tuesday, expired medicines were found dumped on the pavement at Kundrathur. The residents said that the officials promised to clear the place.

Meanwhile, when contacted a senior TNPCB official said, “There is no CCTV installed in the locality to find out from where the medical waste is coming from. If the residents find out such things in the area, they can notify the local body officials and immediately it would be cleared.”