With the dumping of medical and other solid wastes into Tamil Nadu villages along the inter-state border creating a political furor, the Southern Bench of the NGT on Thursday directed the Kerala government to dispose them off within three days.
Taking up the matter suo-motu, the Bench comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati said the waste from the Regional Cancer Centre, 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.
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Dumping of medical waste by Kerala is nothing new as it has been carrying out this with impunity, submitted Tamil Nadu government pleader D Shanmuganathan drawing attention to the earlier instances. He said Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had failed to comply with the earlier order of the NGT pertaining to the dumping of bio-medical waste in Nanguneri, in Tirunelveli district.
He pointed out that dumping is continuing from Anaimalai in the west to Nanguneri in the south. KSPCB is yet to reimburse the Rs 69,000 spent by the local civic body to remove them. He pleaded for sending a strong signal to Kerala to stop dumping of waste in Tamil Nadu.
For its part, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) submitted that its Kerala counterpart was asked to initiate punitive legal action against the RCC for dumping waste in Tamil Nadu. Besides asking KSPCB to strengthen vigil along the borders, two FIRs have been registered against institutions which have dumped the waste, counsel for TNPCB said.
Counsel for KSPCB VK Remasmrithi, while admitting that the waste dumped in Tirunelveli district was from Kerala, maintained that it was done by unauthorised entities. Informing that show-cause notices have been issued to the RCC and others. Further, she submitted that the demands of the TNPCB were being addressed in earnest.
The bench directed the Kerala government to clear the waste within three days and send them to authorised treatment facilities either in Kerala or Tamil Nadu. In the event of Tamil Nadu expressing inability, the waste should be taken back to Kerala.
The Bench then directed the KSPCB to file a compliance report on December 23, the date of next hearing.
Political parties have condemned the frequent dumping of medical and other waste by Kerala in Tamil Nadu. A few years back, waste shipments from the US were dumped on the outskirts of Coimbatore.
