Notified CPB on Kerala dumping medical waste, AIADMK politicking issue: Thangam Thennarasu

CHENNAI: Responding to the issue of Kerala dumping biomedical wastes in the bordering districts of Tamil Nadu, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said steps had already been taken, including notifying the Central Pollution Control Board (CPB) to take action in this regard.

The response comes after the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday directed Kerala to take back and dispose of the medical and other solid wastes within three days.

Thennarasu said it was during the last decade during the AIADMK rule that Tamil Nadu became Kerala's garbage dump, with biomedical waste being illegally brought from Kerala and dumped in the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border districts, including Coimbatore, Theni, Tirunelveli, and Virudhunagar.

The State minister was responding to the leader of the opposition's charges that Tamil Nadu was being

turned into a dumping yard by Kerala under the DMK regime.

The minister accused the main opposition, AIADMK, of doing politics on the issue. He pointed out that during the previous AIADMK regime in 2019, villagers captured trucks that were bringing garbage from Kerala and dumping it at Inam Karisalkulam village near Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district in 2019.

After the formation of the Dravidian model government led by Chief Minister MK 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, Thangam Thennarasu claimed.

He said strict action was also being taken against those who dumped the waste. Immediate action was also taken on one or two unexpected incidents, and the culprits involved were punished as per the law, he added.

Recently, after receiving a complaint about the 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, the minister said.

I have sent a letter 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, the Finance Minister said.

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.