Surveillance intensified on TN-Kerala border; desperate EPS politicising issues: Minister Thennarasu

CHENNAI: Asserting that the interstate border between Tamil Nadu and Kerala was under strict surveillance to prevent illegal dumping of medical waste from the neighbouring state into Tamil Nadu in the DMK regime, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Thursday said that Leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami was politicising issues out of desperation to score political brownie points.

Responding to the criticism levelled by PalaniSwami on the medical waste dumping issue, Thennarasu, in a statement issued late on Thursday night, said, “The Tamil Nadu- Kerala inter state border is being strictly monitored based on the orders of chief minister Stalin. Leader of opposition Palaniswami is desperate to politicise and somehow score political brownie points.”

As soon as a complaint of illegal dumping of medical waste from Kerala at Kallur village in Tirunelveli was received, strict action was taken and two persons, Manoharan and Mayandi of Suthamalli village, were arrested for dumping medical waste, the finance minister clarified.

The Tamil Nadu pollution control board recently wrote to the central pollution control board to direct the Kerala pollution control board to take suitable action to prevent illegal dumping of medical waste from Kerala into Tamil Nadu, the minister added.

After regime change led by Chief Minister MK Stalin in 2021, surveillance was intensified in the border districts and dumping of medical waste from neighbouring Kerala into Tamil Nadu was largely prevented and stringent action has been initiated against people engaging in such illegal dumping of medical waste in Tamil Nadu, Thennarasu added.

Immediate action is initiated on sporadic incidents and people engaging in such illegal activities or punished, he added, remarking that during the previous 10- year AIADMK regime, Tamil Nadu was treated as a dumping yard of Kerala and medical waste from the neighbouring state was dumped in bordering districts of Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Theni, and Virudhunagar.

Thennarasu also cited a cover story of a Tamil magazine published in 2016 on the issue.