Coimbatore: Waterbodies in the city have been turned into dumping grounds for disposing of foundry and other waste. A tractor dumping foundry waste into the Singanallur tank was caught red-handed by city-based environmentalists on Wednesday morning. The driver, who was a farmer, was paid to dump the waste from Sri Venkatachalapathy Foundry. The driver said at least two truckloads of waste left that particular foundry every week.
The chemical mixed waste which is used for casting iron products was collected by the driver from the foundry on April 7. The driver, who was also a farm labourer at Pattanam said he had dumped waste in the past as well. "We get work only for ten days a month and so we use our tractors for such purposes to earn extra money," he said. The drivers gets paid between Rs500 and Rs800 for disposing the waste.
K Mohanraj, managing trustee of Save Coimbatore Wetlands, an NGO, said there were several such dumps all around the river. "We just happened to catch them in the act. But the civic body needs to take action to stop this," he said. Chandrashekar, a member of the NGO, said as per norms, tractors should be used only for agricultural purposes. The district revenue department officials should ensure that these norms are followed," he said.
Environmentalists said such dumping affected the biodiversity and ecosystem of the lake. "The bushes and trees are nesting and breeding spots for birds. The area turns into a waste land as the bushes will not grow back. The birds will migrate to other places searching for nesting grounds," said Mohanraj. The environmentalists said they would file a complaint with the Coimbatore Corporation as well.
"When we complain, the civic body officials penalize the offender. But they rarely take measures to remove the debris from the site. Be it at Ukkadam Big Tank or Valankulam, we have complained several times but one can still see dumps there," he said.
The company representatives failed to respond and the driver agreed to clean up the debris on his own. Corporation officials said that dumps of debris could be seen at most lakes in the city. "Most often, the dumping happens at night. Once, we caught them dumping medical waste," said a corporation officer. But penalizing them does not resolve the issue, he added.
"Unless we come up with a system for disposing the construction and industrial chemical waste, this will continue to happen," said the official.
The chemical mixed waste which is used for casting iron products was collected by the driver from the foundry on April 7. The driver, who was also a farm labourer at Pattanam said he had dumped waste in the past as well. "We get work only for ten days a month and so we use our tractors for such purposes to earn extra money," he said. The drivers gets paid between Rs500 and Rs800 for disposing the waste.
K Mohanraj, managing trustee of Save Coimbatore Wetlands, an NGO, said there were several such dumps all around the river. "We just happened to catch them in the act. But the civic body needs to take action to stop this," he said. Chandrashekar, a member of the NGO, said as per norms, tractors should be used only for agricultural purposes. The district revenue department officials should ensure that these norms are followed," he said.
Environmentalists said such dumping affected the biodiversity and ecosystem of the lake. "The bushes and trees are nesting and breeding spots for birds. The area turns into a waste land as the bushes will not grow back. The birds will migrate to other places searching for nesting grounds," said Mohanraj. The environmentalists said they would file a complaint with the Coimbatore Corporation as well.
"When we complain, the civic body officials penalize the offender. But they rarely take measures to remove the debris from the site. Be it at Ukkadam Big Tank or Valankulam, we have complained several times but one can still see dumps there," he said.
The company representatives failed to respond and the driver agreed to clean up the debris on his own. Corporation officials said that dumps of debris could be seen at most lakes in the city. "Most often, the dumping happens at night. Once, we caught them dumping medical waste," said a corporation officer. But penalizing them does not resolve the issue, he added.
"Unless we come up with a system for disposing the construction and industrial chemical waste, this will continue to happen," said the official.